


Black Hole Sun

by Hypsidium



Series: Violet Hill [2]
Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, PTSD, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypsidium/pseuds/Hypsidium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Fix You. Roxanne find it harder to take the ten steps back than ten steps forward, Minion makes a friend, Metro Man tries to make amends, and Megamind tries to recover from his injuries.</p><p>Note: Was posted all in one go as the story was complete before publishing here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Paper Planes

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to give a shout out to the awesome people at the Megamind LJ Community for having been great company when I was writing this a few years ago. Most unfortunately this series was intended to be a trio and I never did write the last part. Be forewarned, it ends on a cliffhanger.
> 
> Particularly wonderful were Demishock, ThisFox, Seiaa, and Lava, who were the best betas ever.

Roxanne went out into the sun and couldn't help but reflect on how remarkably blue the sky was when one really looked at it. Not just a passing glance, but a real scrutiny. Maybe it was because she just never had the moment to look up without distractions before, or maybe it was because she had nearly lost her life. 

"-Roxy?" Metroman - Wayne - said softly behind her. He must have been talking to her for some time, because he looked concerned.

"Hm?" She blinked and turned her attention to him. "You said something?"

"I asked if you would rather I just flew you, I mean, cab fare can be expensive..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "And I know you're still having trouble with your shoulder."

"Yes, that happens with a dislocation...And no offense, but I would rather keep my feet firmly on the ground for a while." 

"Alright...Well, can I at least come help you with your things?" He gestured at her overnight bag. Truth be told, it had been him who had packed it while she had been in the hospital. "Your place is a real mess anyway, though the contractors from Nolan Industries I hired probably did get the walls fixed and took care of the water damage by now."

"Yes, thanks for that." Roxanne grimaced at her slippers and slid her feet over the sidewalk, listening to the scraping sound. "You really didn't need to do that, I can take care of myself."

"I know, but I just wanted to help," he mumbled, flexing his hands over the wheelchair's handles. The hospital had insisted she be wheeled out, regardless of whether she could walk or not, and since Wayne was there he had taken over for the orderly. 

"Well, it's nice of you to do that, but between you fixing up my apartment and Holt paying my hospital bills it's sort of awkward for me," Roxanne admitted. "It's nice of you and all, I just don't like accepting charity."

"Yeah, I understand." She could hear the resignation in his voice. "Hey, here comes your cab."

She looked down the street and saw he was right, a bright yellow taxi was rolling to a stop. She gingerly got out of the wheelchair, still feeling the ache in her ankle as she accepted the crutch he offered her. "I guess I'll see you later then."

"Right, later." Wayne nodded, reaching out to help her as she struggled to hold her bag and keep her crutch under the same arm. She shook her head and he backed away though, leaving her to climb into the taxi by herself.

When she looked back to wave out the window he was standing on the sidewalk, shoulders slumped like the world rested on them. 

\---

Roxanne was grateful for Carlos being there when she arrived at her apartment building. The doorman helped her gather her bag and crutch, all the while chattering to her about the repairs that had been done to her apartment, and explaining that the elevator didn't work.

She was happy he didn't ask about how she was doing, or anything about the incident. Truth be told, she didn't remember a whole lot about the whole ordeal. It came in flashes, and mostly involved an intense feeling of fear and pain. She was told this was normal, but had been advised she needed to see a therapist. Roxanne bit her lip as she awkwardly climbed the stairs. Carlos lead the way with her bag and spare key in hand. 

Her insurance would never cover her going to a therapist, and while Roxanne had a nice apartment she was not made of money. Hopefully this would end up being an issue she could deal with on her own, just as she had every time she had been kidnapped. Megamind had at least had the decency to very rarely come get her at home, and when he did it was often outside rather than in her apartment.

As it was, getting to the top of the stairs was a relief to her, since her legs were still feeling rather weak from her recent ordeal. It was hard to believe four days ago she had left this apartment, gone to Metroman's hideaway, and then gone through the most terrifying event of her life.

Carlos opened the door for her and placed her bag off to the side, muttering in Spanish as he surveyed the living room. Roxanne found her hands shaking as she stepped just beyond the threshold and felt frozen, unable to go further.

The workers had taken down the notes and left them in a box on her ruined coffee table. Much of her furniture was broken or torn, but it had been neatly arranged. That wasn't what had frozen her though, it was the bells jangling in her head when she caught sight of the balcony. It was the way her heart leaped into her throat and fluttered there like an escaping bird. 

Carlos turned to her, blinking. His lips were moving, but she couldn't hear him talking, all she could hear was the air rushing past her ears as she fell twenty stories. The cars were honking, and the sun through the window was their headlights. Her leg hurt where he had grabbed her; everything was going by in a blur.

She didn't even realize she had stepped back into the hall until her back touched the opposite wall and Carlos was touching her free shoulder, speaking quickly in alternating English and Spanish. 

"-anne! Miss Ritchi! Como estas? Are you okay?" His dark eyes were clouded with worry, gray brows furrowing.

"I- Yes. I'm fine. I just can't be here right now. I have to go," Roxanne stuttered, glad for the reassuring presence of the wall at her back. She turned and stumbled her way back down the stairs, Carlos trailing after her with hands outstretched to catch her if she fell. She stopped at his desk to catch her breath, hardly hearing him speaking to her against the throb of her heartbeat in her ears.

"Carlos, call me a cab, please?" she finally managed to get out over her thick-feeling tongue. 

"Yes, yes, of course," the elderly Mexican nodded, gathering up his list of cab companies from behind his desk. 

She asked for the phone book and looked up half a dozen motels that likely wouldn't be too expensive and settled quickly on the nearest one. She left the book behind and sank into one of the couches in the lobby, releasing a huge sigh. Maybe being in a different location would calm her nerves some, let her adjust better. For now the memory of Hal, the smell of him in her home, was too strong for her to bear.

"I'll lock up for you; is there anything you need?" Carlos asked, setting the phone down.

"Thank you so much. Could you get my bag for me?" She offered a sheepish smile.

"Oh, it's nothing, bonita." He gave her a fleeting grandfatherly smile before heading back up the stairs.

Roxanne stared at the ceiling, feeling her heart slow down to a steady beat. Yes, some time away would give her time enough to be a little more sensible when she came back. 

\---

The Sunny Side Motel was really not much to look at, but it was clean and the owner didn't ask her too many questions after booking her a room for the week. It left her bank account a little weaker than she liked, but it was better than going back to her wrecked apartment and trying to go back inside.

A couple hours, a long, hot bath, and some Chinese delivery later, she was sitting on the bed watching HBO and trying to decide how to process everything from the last six days. So far all she had managed was to gain a feeling of being overwhelmed. It was the same as the last four days; there was just too much to handle at one time.

Eventually she gave up on trying and opted for a good night's sleep.


	2. Unwritten

After the third time he had dusted, despite there being no reason to since it had been done yesterday, he had to admit to himself one fact. He was completely and utterly bored. Minion usually found the periods between Sir's triumphant returns from prison relaxing; the laundry got done on time, the lair was spotless in a day or so, the brainbots charged, and the shopping done. But after all the chores were complete, he still had some sort of robot to build or escape to set into motion. Everything was planned out in advance in some way. 

Except, with the change-over to heroism, plans that were previously evil did not have any place anymore. Sir would come up with some, of course. In fact he had already ordered a large number of the brainbots to report to Nolan Industries to assist with the city's repairs, a gesture of goodwill Minion had supported. Good for their collective image.

The problem was that Sir would not be out of the hospital for over a week yet, and he had already completed everything he could without Sir to direct him on what needed done next. Minion had been released after two days in the hospital and a visit to a veterinarian - which he had felt insulting, but knew to be necessary. Minion was usually quite good at improvising; most of the escapes had been his ideas, after all. But it wasn't as though he was springing the boss from the hospital, nor like Sir could even give him a plan to work from with both his hands incapacitated.

Minion grumbled to himself, shoving the feather duster back into the closet and taking off his cleaning apron. Maybe if he had no tasks to devote himself to he could try watching television.

One hour later, he was feeling extremely guilty for watching one of Discovery Channel's documentaries on fish. He really had no idea how parents allowed their children to watch such blatant pornography, but he had to admit to himself that despite their gaudy colors the clown fish had been very attractive... He flared his fins in irritation with himself and turned off the television, stomping over to the computer.

Television was a bust, and it really hadn't made him feel any better. He had only succeeded in feeling like a voyeur, and Minion was nothing if not a gentle-fish. There had to be something that would get his mind off of the unseemly visuals, something nearby that would get him out of the lair.

He scanned a listing of local clubs, highlighting a few that looked interesting. The first was a quilting club, which met tomorrow at 10:00 AM, before the hospital's visiting hours. He'd always wanted to learn how to quilt, and he would still be able to go see Sir. There were also listings for a sewing club, a cooking club, and a fish enthusiasts club that seemed promising. Minion did, however, rethink the last one and crossed it off the list; after that night's earlier incident he didn't know if he could handle listening to people who kept fish in tanks talk about breeding them. It would just be too surreal. Not to mention a fish going to a fish enthusiasts club would just be awkward.

But, it did look like the sewing club was having a coffee meeting tonight to discuss their latest projects. If he hurried he could just make it in time. A quick cast about Sir's closet found him a few of the projects he had been especially proud of, just to help break the ice.

\---

It had taken him nearly forty-five minutes to find the coffee house, which left him fifteen minutes late and rather embarrassed. He parked the no-longer-evil-but-still-spiked segway in front of the shop, where he could see it out the window in case it was moved without his permission.

He touched the edge of the eco-friendly "Best Seamstress" bag looped over his elbow self-consciously before entering the shop. Overhead the bell jingled cheerfully, announcing his arrival. He offered a cautious grin to the ring of ladies around a table covered in various textile works.

Twenty minutes later he left feeling absolutely miserable. 

He rolled away on the segway, his fins flattened in shame. He had no idea that women could scream that loudly and shrilly, nor had he ever known coffee cups to be an acceptable weapon of choice. Granted, he should have expected the public to have some trouble adjusting to his presence since it was quite recently that he and Sir had made the change over to heroism. But he still felt a little jilted at the way they had reacted to him. It wasn't as if this was his most intimidating suit; his usual suit was defunct and this one wasn't even as big.

Minion debated returning the lair, but the prospect of entering the near-empty building just didn't feel pleasing to him at that moment. Instead he returned to a little park he had passed on the way, parked the segway in the lot, and made his way down to the creek running through it. He sighed - which was really just a flap of the gills and blowing of bubbles - and sat down on a log near the water's edge, reaching down and nudging some of the stones around to find some smooth ones. Minion had many talents, and one of them was the ability to skip stones like a champion.

He chose a nice flat one, shiny black and tan. Raising it to give it a good flick of the wrist he paused, observing some minnows swimming with the little riffles made by fallen branches and stones. Maybe if he couldn't talk to people he could talk to fish. Besides, he was a little hungry, and those looked like non-native fish anyway. It would be irresponsible to just leave them there.

He set the stone down and moved his suit to kneel in front of the water, willing the arms to reach up, open the lid, and pull him out gently. Once he hit the water a flurry of information came to him all at once, in the form of chemical diffusion and electrical impulses. 

Minion found himself a little saddened. The gash on his side had slashed clean through his lateral line and left it difficult for him to get information or sense where his body was in proportion to other things in the water. As such, that injury and the slices in his fins made it difficult for him to swim in even the gentle current. Since his body hitting the water had startled all the minnows it left him, once again, utterly alone. Dejected, he let himself drift a little, crossing to the other bank where there was a log blocking some of the flow and making a steadily deepening pool.

He could smell other fish around, and frogs, and even the horrible flavored plastic of a fishing lure. He had gotten some of the plastic worms once on a whim, to see what they tasted like. The answer was awful, like cough syrup for fish. He much preferred flakes if he was going to have an unhealthy snack between meals.

He was swimming in a slow oblong circle, stretching his muscles, when he sensed something below him. A vague sense of fear, and a feeling that could only be described as 'keep your distance' was filtering up from under a small enclosed rock cave. He turned sideways and drifted downwards, to sense it better.

Another fish, one with venomous spines on the pectorals and dorsal, glared out at him from the dark. He sent a friendly greeting and was met with suspicion, questioning his motives and his teeth. He flattened his fins and dimmed his bio-luminescence, so as to appear less threatening. From her - he was sure it was a she now - he got a continued suspicion but grudging gratitude. 

He flicked his tail, pleased to at least have that much, and started a conversation the only way he could think of. He inquired politely as to the average temperature and PH of the water surrounding them. She responded it was fair, but she would prefer it a few degrees cooler and it could also be a tad darker.

He questioned why she would need it darker, but agreed on the coolness. She seemed a little annoyed by his curiosity, as if he ought to know better, but admitted she was a bit nearsighted and had a predisposition towards the dark like all of her species did.

What was she, he wondered, since he could not see her. The image she sent him was of a small-sized catfish, and though the image was not in color he could sense she implied stripes along the back. She still refused to actually emerge from her hidey-hole though, due to the fact that he could probably have swallowed her whole if he really tried. He would have to look up the species when he got home. Since it was growing darker out he felt he should probably start heading home instead of dallying any longer. 

He bid a quick farewell, which was responded to with some relief on the other fish's part, and made his way back to his suit feeling much better. Despite her obvious reluctance to hold a conversation with him, she had still held a conversation, and that was something. He would have to return sometime and check up on her. 

It was only when he was cruising away on the segway that he realized he had completely forgotten to ask her name. Did Earth fish even have names?


	3. Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart

All in all, Megamind found that the way hospital drugs rendered him incapable of coherent thought was very annoying. For the first four days his considerably fantastic memory had reported to him that he had time traveled, due to the large gaps in which nothing made sense. The last two, including this one, had been much better.

The majority of his time was very like the time he had let Metroman make him one of those Jack and Cokes. The room was tilting on its axis, and people were coming and going, but he could not move even a toe. Where there had previously been an unprecedented amount of agony, he could now feel nothing. It was very surreal, like being in a dream but being fully aware of it at the same time. He slept mostly, unable to really care about the whys or hows of anything.

In between points of fantastic clarity, there were points at which he was very sure he had relived the same moments over and over again. First came the nurses and doctors, then came the stroll down an endless hallway, then the room with all the bright lights, a long black period, and then he was back in his room wondering what happened or if he had imagined it.

Metroman had informed him he had asked, not once, but five times in the space of an hour, if all hospitals had the ability to cause temporal distortions and why he had never thought about it before, because it was brilliant.

Not that Megamind would ever admit to having ranted about hospitals being brilliant, now that he was aware enough to eat their cardboard food.

He had decided very quickly that he despised chicken fried steak, but the jello was acceptable. However, he had also been informed by a very irate nurse that just eating jello was not, in any way, acceptable. He entertained thoughts of dehydrating her later, but knew it would not be very heroic of him. 

It was really too bad, considering.

For now, however, he had settled on just giving her the stink eye whenever she came in. It wasn't that often, so he didn't have to divert his attention too often. Most of his attention was therefore able to be devoted to much more pressing matters. Such as what the hell heroes invented, what charging cycles he should reprogram the brainbots to, how to get out of eating his next vile offering of chicken fried steak, and most importantly, where Roxanne was and what she was doing right now. He had found himself unusually preoccupied with her for the last few days. If he was honest with himself, he would have to admit he had been preoccupied to begin with, but it was growing in intensity every day. Right at that moment, for instance, some part of his mind kept fretting that he might not see her again, since she had left the hospital yesterday.

"Your move, little buddy," Metroman reminded him, tapping the checkerboard on his over-the-lap tray.

"I'm thinking," he answered, truthfully, glowering at the pieces. He was playing black, of course, and there were about ten different ways he could have won. However, none of them were particularly challenging, and he hated ending the games so quickly.

He slid a piece forward clumsily, trying not to knock his wrist cast on the edge of the tray, and allowed Metroman to take it just as Minion walked in.

"Minion! My favorite fish," Megamind welcomed loudly, then regretted it as soon as his ribs protested.

"I'm the only fish you know, Sir," Minion replied dejectedly, plopping down in the chair by the door, as usual. The chair groaned a little under the suit's weight. Megamind made a mental note to look into upgrading the metal in the spare like he had done to Minion's usual suit.

"You seem more aware today, though, Sir." The fish managed a smile.

"And you seem...meloncoly." Megamind narrowed his eyes. He found it much easier to read Minion than anyone else.

"Melancholy," Metroman murmured. Megamind artfully ignored him.

"Oh, Sir!" Minion's lip quivered. "It was awful! I tried to go to a sewing club, but I had no idea ladies could be so rude! All that shrieking." His gills fluttered in distress.

"A sewing club? Why would anyone use a club to sew with?" Megamind blinked. The idea was completely ridiculous; for one thing, how would they even get it through the fabric? It was preposterous. 

"I'm sorry to hear that, Minion," Metroman supplied. "Just give them some time, I'm sure they'll come around when they have...more time to get used to the idea of you two being the good guys."

"Do you really think so?" Minion's eyes took on a hopeful shine.

"Sewing club. I ask again, why would anyone sew with a club?" Megamind grumbled, not too keen on being passed over.

"A club is a group of like-minded people; in this case, a group of people who sew." Metroman rolled his eyes. "And I know so, Minion. If it makes you feel any better not everyone likes me either, especially not now." Metroman rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I see," Megamind muttered, narrowing his eyes once more and filing that club information away for further use. 

Minion's fins flicked, betraying his curiosity. "I thought everyone loved you, Mr. Metroman."

"It's Wayne, Minion. Just Wayne. No, not everyone does." Metroman's expression barred any further discussion of the matter.

Megamind chose that moment to win the checker game and chewed his lip a moment before blurting out the thing most on his mind. "Have either of you heard from Roxanne?" 

"Not since yesterday," Metroman said, frowning at the finished game and sweeping the pieces off of it to reset the board.

"Oh, me next, Sir!" Minion perked, pointing at the checkers. Megamind waved his hand in a 'carry on' gesture.

"I haven't heard from her either, Sir," Minion supplied as he traded seats with Metroman. "If you're worried I'm sure we could call her on the hospital phone. I know they took your watch, and returned that cell phone to that man you had in your pocket."

"Who said I was worried?" Megamind sulked, scowling at the reset board and making his first move once Minion had chosen. He had never thought it quite right that the black pieces in checkers went second.

"Oh come on, it's only completely obvious," Minion groaned, his tattered fins and robot hands both lifting in exasperation. He shoved a red piece forward.

"Well, I'm n-" Megamind started.

Minion and Metroman just gave him deadpan stares.

"Alright. A little. A microscopic amount. Because an independent, capable woman of her caliber can take care of herself. Even if she did get kidnapped a lot. By me."

Minion waved a hand, encouraging him to go on. Metroman hid a smirk behind a hand, elbow balanced on his knee.

"Okay. Fine. So, I'm worried. Big deal." Megamind frowned at his hands. "Let's just play." Megamind snapped another checkers piece down with more force than needed, wincing at the stress it placed on his wrist.

"Mmhm," Minion acknowledged, making another move.

They continued like that in silence for what seemed like ages to Megamind, but was really only about five minutes.

"It's...She doesn't hate me now, does she?" he asked in a small voice.

"I can't say she isn't justified to be mad at you, Sir. But I doubt she hates you." Minion's eyes stayed on the checkerboard. Metroman abruptly got up with the murmured excuse of getting his shoulder bandages changed.

Megamind watched him go. Minion turned and went to close the door, returning to his seat and going straight back to the checkers.

"We do need to talk some things over, you and I, don't we?" Megamind questioned, with a sinking feeling.

"Yes, we do," Minion bobbed in his bowl. Megamind noted the way he tilted ever so slightly and felt a stab of guilt at the injury his friend had sustained.

"Is it too late to say I'm sorry?" He spoke softly, downcast.

"Of course not!" Minion looked up, brow furrowing. "Just because I'm upset doesn't mean everything before doesn't mean anything. You just need to realize...You've hurt a lot of people."

"I know! I know, oh God, do you think I don't?" Megamind tried to throw his hands up, then hissed and held his ribs when the action proved futile, and ultimately, very painful. Minion waited, graciously, until he was able to breathe normally again.

"I should never have said those things to you; I was angry...So...I'm sorry," Megamind scowled at the checkerboard. 

Minion smiled. "Apology accepted. Now you just need to apologize to Roxanne. King me."

"I still don't see why she's all that mad..." Megamind picked up a black piece and rubbed it with his thumb before setting it down and claiming one of Minion's reds.

"You lied to her," Minion said in the tone of someone explaining what should be immediately apparent. "You even admitted as much to me."

"Yes, well...It's not like that Bernard guy had anything to do with her anyway..." Megamind scratched at the cast over his other hand with his free fingers. "It was always me who was dating her, not him." He sniffed.

"It was still a lie, even so," Minion calmly stole one of Megamind's blacks, taking advantage of his momentary distraction. 

Megamind almost sighed, but thought better of it. Just breathing still made him ache a little bit, now that he was on less-potent pain killers during the day. "How else was I supposed to get close to her? Look at me."

"I can't answer that, Sir; only she can. I win." Minion snapped his red piece down.

"Oh...So you do..." Megamind stared at the board, embarrassed by his lack of concentration on the game. 

"Want to go again?" Minion grinned.

"Are you kidding?" Megamind returned the friendly smile with one decidedly more devious. "You had better be prepared, you piscine theeraypist."

"You might want to avoid saying it 'theeraypist' in the future, Sir."

"Whatever, make your move."


	4. Sour Girl

Roxanne let out a huge sigh as she returned to the hotel room and flopped down face first on the bed, laying there for a moment before rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. 

She wasn't really sure what was worse; her coworkers' excessive concern or the fact that their offices were on the third story. She had felt ill just on the cab ride into town, hating the way she felt like the buildings were ready to tilt inwards and crush them at any given moment. The cab would never be fast enough to outrun a falling building.

Getting to the third floor had been a bit of an ordeal in and of itself, but thankfully no one was in the elevator to notice how her knuckles had turned white holding onto the safety railing. The welcome to her floor was awful though. As soon as her feet left the elevator she knew something was off. The secretary wasn't at her desk and the office was eerily quiet. She glanced around nervously, apprehension creeping into her like cold tendrils. 

Then her coworkers jumped up, wielding a banner and a cake and shrieking like Hell's own choir.

"Surprise! Welcome back, Roxy!" came the chorus.

Roxanne let out a strangled yell and promptly fainted.

Twenty minutes - and some smelling salts - later, she was sitting in a chair in her boss' office, feeling thoroughly humiliated.

"I am so sorry about this, Roxanne," her boss grimaced. "If they had talked to me beforehand, I would have put a damper on that whole thing. It was that damned Calquoun's idea; I'll be having a talk with him..."

"No, no, don't bother," Roxanne waved a hand at her, dismissing the idea. "They meant well."

"That's not an excuse, Roxanne," she sniffed. "They should know better than to scare you after such a...trying ordeal."

"Well, it never affected me before..." Roxanne felt like a sulky child as she rubbed her arm, feeling around the fresh bruise from hitting the floor.

"Nothing like this ever happened before, and you know it." Rosa shook an admonishing finger. "You need to go see that therapist like I've been harping you about for years."

"Yeah, well, my insurance doesn't cover it. Besides, I can deal with it myself." Roxanne straightened her skirt over her knees and reached for her crutch.

"Please, spare me the 'I am woman, hear me roar' spiel. Take his card at least. He's good, I promise. After my ass of an ex left me for that flighty little twit he got me through a lot of emotional turmoil." Rosa pressed a business card into Roxanne's hand.

"Yeah, I'll think about it." Roxanne slipped it into her jacket pocket. 

"Think hard; I can't afford to train a new reporter as good as you are," Rosa grinned, clapping her on her good shoulder. "Now get back to your desk; what am I paying you for?"

The rest of the day had been less eventful, though Roxanne had caught herself taking the long way around the office to the break room, avoiding Hal's desk. She couldn't even bring herself to look in that direction, the aversion was so strong.

Other than those, there had been the constant halts in her editing to acknowledge whichever coworker came over to apologize, ask how she was, or offer to get her something from the break room. Of course, Joan, you had no idea jumping out screaming like a banshee might startle someone. Why yes, Tom, your offer of a Kit Kat bar would fix all the problems in the world.

It had been near maddening, and she was glad when her boss came to tell her she only needed to put in a half day since she was still recovering. And to go see that damned therapist.

Why everyone seemed to think she needed therapy, Roxanne did not know. She did know that it bothered her that everyone was trying to act like they knew better, that she couldn't take care of herself, and that she might be crazy. She had gotten through Megamind's half a thousand kidnappings just thinking of them as major inconveniences. Sometimes it was even fun. Why should this be any different, really?

Rosa's words echoed in her head. Nothing like this ever had happened before, that much she had to admit. In Megamind's care or clutches - whichever was more appropriate at the time - she had never been seriously hurt. Sure, there were bruises, but most of the time he had seemed frustrated with even those occurring. She chewed on the inside of her cheek at the thought of him, so small and fragile in his hospital bed when she had seen him yesterday. He had just been coming off his morphine, so she had been brief with her visit. Just a light pat on the hand and a goodbye.

There was too much to say and ask without him being able to respond to speak further, and too many mixed feelings to plant a kiss on his forehead. She still had to sort those out before she saw him again. Roxanne felt unsure of what she might say if she went to visit without first composing herself.

Roxanne pulled the card out of her jacket pocket and sighed at it. Dr. James Smith, it seemed like such an ordinary name considering the company she usually kept. She set the card on her bedside table and hauled herself back to her feet, shuffling into the bathroom for a well-deserved shower.

Two minutes into it her cell phone rang from her pocket and she groaned loudly, leaning out and answering it, not caring too much about dripping all over the floor.

"-h-lo?" came the faint voice on the other end.

Roxanne scowled and turned off the water, stepping out of the shower carefully to sit on the toilet. Her ankle was not happy with her leaning on it like that, and she rubbed the top of it ruefully. "This is Roxanne Ritchi."

"Roxanne? Hi!" Wayne's voice greeted her with a brittle cheerfulness.

"Wayne?" Roxanne blinked, running her hand through her hair to slick it out of her eyes.

"Yeah, how you doing?" Wayne's voice changed, as if he was holding the phone at another angle. 

"I...Just saw you yesterday. I'm alright. ...How are you?" Roxanne furrowed her brows, confused by the call. Wayne had never called her before.

"Oh, I know. I'm alright. I was just checking in with you, you know, making sure everything is okay. No one's bothering you, right?" There was a clicking noise, and the beep of a microwave in the background.

"Well, my coworkers were kind of annoying," Roxanne leaned an elbow on the sink, grabbing the hand towel and giving her face a quick swipe.

"So...He asked about you today. He wouldn't admit it, but he was really worried. I gotta admit, I haven't seen much of him like that. You've got a real effect on the little guy." Wayne's warm smile was audible through the phone. 

Roxanne froze, suddenly unwilling to be having this conversation. "Hey, Met-Wayne?"

"Yeah?" The beeping stopped and he was shuffling something around.

"I'm kind of in the middle of a shower, and it's been a long night...Can we talk later? Maybe tomorrow?" Roxanne leaned her head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling and biting her lip, trying to keep any emotion out of her voice.

"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow, then...Any particular time?" Wayne sounded deflated.

"What about...no. How about I just call you?" Roxanne closed her eyes.

"Alright...Talk to you tomorrow, Rox."

"Sure. Bye, Wayne."

She hung up the phone and tried to pretend the tears on her cheeks were really just the damp of the shower.

\---

When Minion had returned to the stream after his long chat with the boss, he had briefly questioned his sanity. But this had not stopped him from dropping himself into the water and crossing to the other bank, eager to share his good mood with his new-found friend.

She too, questioned his sanity. It didn't matter though; at least she didn't run or throw things at him. She just lurked under her rock and listened patiently, glowering at him with slanted catfish eyes.

He queried whether her species was a brindled madtom, or a channel catfish. She had seemed amused at the latter, explaining she was far too small to be a channel. No, she was a madtom, and very proud of it. He politely wondered what her name was, now that he knew her species, and was surprised to find she had no proper name. Just 'the madtom' would be fine if he needed to have something to call her.

Pleased, Minion allowed himself to glide in a circle. He was slowly getting used to the lack of electrical feeling on one side of his body, but it was a longer process than he cared for. It still felt like he was missing something, and he often felt like something was there when it wasn't. He supplied his name as 'lower on the food chain fish', as minions did not exist in her species.

The madtom allowed a slight interest in his mood, as before he had been much more sedate, as well as a sense of amusement at his ironic name. Minion's feelers flickered slightly brighter for a moment, the equivalent of a sheepish blush. He explained he had been lonely before, that his friend was hurt and in a place to be well again, but that his friend could not spend much time with him as a result. 

The madtom seemed confused by this, and Minion did not suppose he could blame her; his translation of 'friend' was accompanied by the generalization that Sir was also a predator higher on the food chain, since 'boss' did not carry over very well to a mostly solitary species.

He implied she should forget about that last part. The important thing was this his friend and he had come to an agreement over an argument they'd had.

She inquired whether Minion had been the one to inflict the injuries to his friend, and admitted herself impressed by his teeth. No doubt, they could cause serious harm.

Minion flicked his fins, torn between feeling flattered and feeling appalled. He emphatically negated the notion he would ever harm his friend, but acknowledged her unwitting compliment on his fearsome teeth very demurely.

She seemed a bit confused by this, stating it was only fact. Minion protested that even fact could be a compliment, and that it was nice to get them sometimes. She supposed so, but wasn't used to receiving them.

Minion felt this tragic, as she had been very engaging to converse with. She wriggled in her cave, unsure how to respond.

Minion placated her, giving her the general feeling that it was okay, but still a shame no one told her these things. He inquired how her night cycle had gone and if she had anything she would like to talk about.

She immediately launched into a story about how she had won a viscous battle with a crawdad, devouring his remains with gusto. He had tasted a might odd, but most things did these days. 

Minion supplied that crawdads were nothing but little Napoleons with claws, which confused her. He did request to know more about the funny taste however, as he had sensed something that smelled funny about the water there. 

Thus went the rest of the afternoon, passing into near sunset when Minion realized it was time to head home. He bid her a quick farewell and darted to his suit, heading home in a hurry.


	5. I'm Not Jesus

Wayne Scott went to court bright and early the morning after calling Roxy on the phone. He was a man on a mission, and he wasn't about to let the city council run all over his little buddy. Especially not while he was still in the hospital, and unable to really defend himself. 

He had not called Roxy in, feeling the woman had more stress on her hands than she needed at the moment. Her abrupt ending of their conversation last night still rang in his ears. There was something bothering her, and while he wanted to know how he could help, he also knew that Roxy was a grown woman and would ask for help if she needed it.

Hopefully. Now that he thought of it, she had never been very good at calling for help even when Megamind had insisted.

He had his family's lawyer in tow, and was bound and determined that they would win the case he was making. They stampeded into the court house just as the session was being called.

"Hold on! I'm here to be a witness, and take care of some misconceptions."

It took nearly three hours, but through some artful arguing Wayne had managed to not only reduce Megamind's fines by half, but also to negate several life sentences through the point that Ms. Ritchi had never pressed formal charges. It wasn't everything, but it was a little. 

Wayne made sure they would send him a notice about their next trial date, and assured himself that his family lawyer had the information of the people to contact and yell at if they should try and dodge them.

"I swear, I don't understand this city's legal system. They would never get away with this back in Detroit," his lawyer was ranting. 

"I can't say I get it either," Wayne admitted. "I mean, they let me be a vigilante for years, no problem. Megamind never even had trials to begin with. Really bizarre."

"Incompetence, or some kind of legal loophole. I'll look into it. I owe the family that much," the lawyer shrugged. In truth, the older man was his mother's brother, Uncle Tom, who had been business partners with John Scott before introducing him to his youngest sister, Bobbi Anderson.

"Hey, I appreciate it, Uncle Tom. Need a lift to the hotel?" Wayne offered.

"No, thanks. I think it would make Andrew jealous," Tom smirked. "Besides, I'm not far, and it's a nice day for a walk. Say hi to your mom and dad for me, kiddo."

"Sure thing, Uncle Tom," Wayne grinned, waving at him before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

Really, the sensation of actually walking was still sometimes a little disconcerting to him. His weight sinking to the ground, succumbing to Earth's gravity; it was a little strange. He strolled slowly, trying to ignore the nasty looks he occasionally got from the passersby. 

Uncle Tom had been right about the weather being wonderful, he just wished that the surroundings were just as nice. He had expected some anger from the citizens, yes, but not this level of emotion. It was as if the entire city felt so betrayed by him that they had collectively decided that he was not worth the time of day. And if he was worth the time of day, it was generally in the form of angry letters. His fan-mail box at the post office was full of vitriol and tearful admonishments. He knew - he had stopped by to empty it and scanned the letters though their envelopes before bagging them up, asking to store them at the post office for a small fee.

Wayne paused along the way back to the edge of the city to stop in a coffee shop. He waited in line, not making eye contact with the slanted glances from around him. The cashier served him with a sneer, and he was pretty sure someone spit in his mocha when he wasn't looking. He dropped it in the nearest garbage can with a sigh once he had left the shop. 

His feet carried him back towards the hospital. Megamind didn't seem to mind his company these days, and it was better than going back to his empty home. The little blue alien didn't need to know about the court hearing today; it would only upset him that he couldn't be there to defend himself. 

He headed into the lobby, throwing a friendly smile at the receptionist. She just stared at him as he passed by the desk and entered the elevator with a woman and her little boy.

As they went up the woman pointedly avoided looking at him, but the little boy stared at him the entire time. Wayne had to admit it was making him a little uncomfortable, even more so when they made to exit on the same floor.

"Um...Ladies first," Wayne offered.

The woman sniffed and made to walk forward, but the boy stayed rooted in place, glaring at him. 

"You're why daddy is here," he scowled, following his mother out the doors. They disappeared down the hallway.

Wayne stayed rooted in place until the doors shut. He clenched his fists so hard his arms shook, resisting the urge to slam a hand into the side of the elevator. It took him five minutes to compose himself and exit the elevator.

He walked down the hallway with his eyes downcast, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. Quietly, he entered Megamind's room. The alien was asleep, looking more at peace than he did in his waking moments.

Wayne closed the door behind him, sat down in the chair by the door, and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry," he whispered hoarsely, his shoulders shaking. "I'm so sorry for everything."


	6. Clocks

Megamind's eyes were narrowed when his nemesis entered, her clicking steps a counter beat to the tick of the obnoxious clock on the wall. She stopped in the doorway and met his gaze with equal animosity, hands on her hips. He diminished the distance between his eyelids fractionally, effectively delivering a devastating gaze of unadulterated dislike. The wicked, cruel woman in the doorway matched him, fraction of a centimeter for fraction of a centimeter. Her brows quirked downwards and made the bridge of her nose a wrinkle in her peach skin.

Oh, she was good.

"Mr. Megamind, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." She crossed her arms and looked down her nose at him.

Two could play at that game, and he had quite a long nose to do so with. He remained silent, so as to throw her off her game. 

She continued without even a falter. "One way or another, I am getting your blood pressure, and if you squirm so help me God I will call in the orderlies." She paused for effect, grabbing the clipboard off the wall and studying it. "Big, beefy ones. Chad would love to see you again, I'm sure."

Oh, the dreaded Chad. He made a grudging noise of consent. 

"That's a good man," the devil smiled, saccharine sweet and filled with poison.

She strode over and slid the aneroid sphymomanometer over his arm. He bared his teeth and drew in a breath as her fingers brushed against his skin, hating the feelings that coursed through his veins into his impressive head. Right now she was feeling a mix of irritation, amusement, and slight exhaustion. It contrasted with his own of apprehension, distress, and fresh waking from a nap.

"Oh, I am not hurting you at all. Just relax, you big baby," the denizen of the ninth circle of hell scolded, oblivious to the real reason for his discomfort.

"O treacherous creature, you do so wound me! The very touch of thine nails upon my skin are as the raking of knives through my flesh!" He moaned, flopping his other arm over his head dramatically.

"Cheeky," she smirked, withdrawing both the torture of her skin on his and the sphymomanometer. "All done. Here's your menu." She pulled it out of a pocket in her apron and flopped it onto his tray. "Call the desk when you've decided what you want."

"You're a real piece of work, Alice," he sneered.

"Ha! That's just what my ma says," she snorted in amusement, scribbling on his chart and strolling out to do the rest of her rounds.

Megamind growled and ran the hand with the cast awkwardly over his arm where she had touched him. He really did despise having his skin touched; for one, having someone else's feelings collide with his own was often confusing. For another it made him feel gross afterward, like there was a residue on his skin that kept feeding him emotional content he had nothing to do with.

He scraped the cast over his arm a few times before giving up and using his other hand to pick up the menu, scanning it with distaste. Chicken fried steak, definitely not. Meatloaf he felt wary of, unsure of what kind of meat could come in a loaf. After all, where was the loaf muscle on an animal? It seemed very suspicious to him. His other theory was that they were, in fact, serving the musician. Which was worse. He chose to believe better of the hospital though. There was also the option of a veggie burger, but he was also a little suspect of a vegetable masquerading as a cow.

Thanks to the influx of patients to the hospital the selections were very slim, left to just those three options and either pudding or jello for desert. He glowered at them, wishing his eyes were lasers so he could possibly burn the travesty.

"I see you've been harassing the nurses," Holt said from the doorway, Iris entering ahead of him.

"She deserved it," Megamind sulked. "All this poking and prodding, really, you would think I was still on death's doorway."

Iris grinned. "That's how hospitals are, but really, it's just to make sure you don't slide backward into worse health."

The woman fished around in her purse and produced a tupperware bowl and plastic spoon, which she gave to Holt to put on his tray. "Brought you a home remedy anyway."

"What is this?" Megamind poked at it with his other hand, but found trying to open it one handed was impossible and a little painful. Holt obliged without a word, releasing a delicious aroma that made his stomach gurgle appreciatively.

"Chicken noodle soup, home made, none of that canned nonsense," Iris sniffed, sounding just a little snooty at the last part.

"Ohhh," Megamind made the bed move forward a little so he could sit up, dipping the spoon into the container awkwardly and taking a sip of the broth. It was hot, and burned his tongue a little, but it was like drinking liquid heaven. "However did you smuggle this in here?"

"Old women and magicians never reveal their secrets," Iris stated, matter-of-factly.

"I see," Megamind murmured, taking another spoonful of deliciousness.

"We just came to update you on the repairs; I've got about two hundred guys in the process of being hired as temps, the rest of my guys are setting up to start the training processes for them, and I've got supplies being flown into the airport," Holt said, getting right down to business. Megamind had decided he was a fairly dour man, very to the point, but his gravely tone and lack of refined speech said he didn't come straight from money.

"Good. Have you gotten the manuals to the brainbots yet?" Megamind continued eating his soup, still listening.

"Yeah, they're all read up and everything. Weird how just the one had to read them," Holt rubbed the back of his neck. Iris slipped over and sat on the seat by the door, her little feet dangling and her voluminous purse clutched in her hands.

"That's the nature of having a collective database," Megamind shrugged. "Anyway, go ahead and start them following your workers, they're good for getting into the small spaces."

"Already on it. Metrma- er, Wayne's been a big help too; he's been taking chunks of that tower out to the quarry about every day, once we get a chunk cut away."

"I'd expect nothing less." He had to admit he felt a little strange about Metroman's help. It left him unsure of where he should be; was he the hero, or was Metroman going to continue to be the hero after his triumphant return? Was Megamind even fit to be a hero with his injuries as they were?

"He's such a nice young man, I don't care what they say," Iris volunteered from her seat.

"What who says?" Megamind looked up from the glorious soup, which was mostly gone now.

"Oh, you know," Iris waved a hand. "The news. I hear there's even a protest at the museum now; they want to have the rest of it torn down."

"Really?" Megamind sat up a little further, incredulous. "Why? That makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense to some," Holt shrugged. "Most folks are pretty upset he abandoned us, then only came back at the last minute for that Titan guy because it looked like you were losing - no offense."

"None taken..." Megamind furrowed his brow, putting his spoon back into the empty container. So that's what Metroman had been talking about yesterday.

"Oh, jeez, look. We gotta get, Iris. Azure's gonna have my a--my head," Holt blurted, looking at his watch. 

Iris laughed at that. "Oh, I'm sure she will. You stay well, dear. And be nicer to the nurses, they're working their tails off."

"Yeah, sure," Megamind chewed on the inside of his cheek and watched them go, smuggling the empty container out with them. "Goodbye."

He sighed at the ceiling, resisting the urge to try flinging one of his pillows at the clock to silence the contraption. It was unlucky that his television was only picking up static, what with the cable still being out in this part of town. Besides drowning out that incessant ticking, he'd have known of this much earlier - though he suspected Metroman would not have liked that much. 

Besides, he might have to see Roxanne on the news, and right now it was more than he could bear to see her and not be near her. It filled his belly with a churning that was uncomfortably foreign. Megamind found it both invigorating and infuriating. He was quite sure that if she didn't come sometime soon he was going to explode.

He stared at the tiles without really seeing them. He could always hope she would come soon; hope was all he had right now.


	7. Big Empty

"Now tell me, does this hurt?" the doctor asked cheerfully, flexing his shoulder gently.

"Only agonizingly so," Megamind hissed, resisting the urge to wince away from his dry, scratchy hands. At least only one of them was actually on his arm.

"Mm," the doctor murmured, scribbling on a chart. "That about does it for today. Have Joan take you back to your room. Same time tomorrow, and we start getting you ready for crutches."

"I look forward to it, almost as much as I look forward to my own funeral," Megamind deadpanned at the doctor's back. 

"That's the spirit," the doctor returned flatly.

"Ugh." Megamind stared at the ceiling as Joan - a great beast of a woman - wheeled him back to his room. Exhaustion made his limbs feel heavy, and he had hardly even done that much for his physical therapy. Again, he cursed himself for building the nanomachines so they were a fail safe rather than something he could use regularly. With his wounds already on the mend the little machines would not be able to work, and he might end up with some kind of horrible deformity.

He grunted a greeting to Metroman and Minion, who were once again preoccupied with playing checkers. It was a strenuous ordeal getting back into the hospital bed, and once done he could barely muster up the energy to keep his eyes open.

"Were ya wanting your lunch soon?" Joan's Bronx accent penetrated the haze of sleepiness.

"Gnf," he said, articulate and to the point.

"Aw, poor li'l guy, he's all tuckered out." Joan grinned, pleased that she didn't have to put up with his snark today. She'd heard plenty from Alice about him.

"Little, my over-sore buttocks," he mumbled, glowering at his toes.

Joan shrugged and glanced over at Metroman and Minion. "You two let him sleep now, I'll be back to check on him in a couple hours."

"Yes, ma'am." Minion smiled at her, finishing the game with a single move. "I was thinking we should go down and get some lunch anyhow. Would that be alright, Sir?"

"Yeah, sure, fine," Megamind sighed, closing his eyes and settling back.

Metroman quickly picked up the checkers and put them back in the cardboard box they had been keeping over on the counter, hidden behind the abundant flowers, leaving Megamind to sleep.

\---

The diner was surprisingly quiet for the time of day, leaving Mr. Wayne and Minion their choice of seats. Minion, of course, chose the ones closest to the water feature, throwing a few coins into the fountain.

"I'd been meaning to ask you...Where do you get your money from, anyway?" Mr. Wayne asked, setting his tray of four sandwiches down on the table.

"Oh, Sir has a few patents that pay into an offshore account. Our assets occasionally get frozen, but for the most part it gives us some income for things like groceries." Minion had chosen some little sushi rolls, and was using a pair of chopsticks with expert hands.

Mr. Wayne watched in fascination as he dropped a roll through the open hatch and caught it in his mouth, chewing with an appreciative sound. "I'm never going to get used to that."

"Mmph, most don't," Minion supplied, tilting his chopsticks to point at Wayne. "I'll never get used to how much you eat in one sitting, Mr. Wayne. It's amazing."

Mr. Wayne shrugged. "Just Wayne. And, hey, guy's gotta eat."

"Mm."

And so their lunch passed in companionable silence until all they were left with were empty soy packets and wrappers. They sat, watching the water trickle from the bamboo stakes, overflowing and tipping them with a pleasing 'clonk' every so often.

Mr. Wayne glanced down at his watch and 'hmm'd offhandedly. "Hey, I gotta make a phone call real quick. Be back in a second, Minion."

"Sure." Minion bobbed in his bowl. He watched as the man went over to a corner by the pop machines, pulling out his phone and turning it on - the nurses had warned them having them on could interfere with the machinery, which was also why Megamind was not allowed to have his wristwatch communicator - to make his phone call. Politely Minion turned his attention back to the fountain, staring at it but not really thinking about that.

What could possibly make water taste and smell weird? He still needed to take the chemical testing supplies down to the little stream to find out what was going on in his friend's home. Well, she was sort of a friend, more of an acquaintance really. He wasn't sure where to classify her, but she still had yet to change homes, so he was able to have someone else to talk to at the end of the day. He would have to go see her again after visiting hours and hopefully remember to take a water sample while he was there.

"No answer; I left a message though."

Mr. Wayne's abrupt return startled him out of his thoughts. "Huh? Oh, your phone call. It's not urgent you reach your friend, I hope?"

"Not urgent, I'm just worried." Mr. Wayne tapped his fingers on the table, hardly noticing the tiny indentations he left in his distraction.

Minion noticed, and withdrew his arms into his lap.

"That was Roxanne I was calling. I called her the day before yesterday to see how she was doing. She was being pretty evasive and made some excuse as soon as I mentioned your boss. Has she called up here at all, that you know of?" Mr. Wayne frowned at the table top, noticing the tiny dents and reaching below the table to gently press them back into place. It just made them look worse, so he left it alone.

"No, if she had, Sir would have been going on endlessly...It has been almost four days since she was released." Minion's gills fluttered in concern. How had he missed this?

"Seems kind of fishy for someone who was coming up daily to hold his hand, right?" Mr. Wayne looked back at Minion. "No pun intended."

"You're right, it does seem...strange. Perhaps she's just busy?" Minion could only hope. Sir would be devastated if this was her way of dumping him again. There was no telling how he would react.

"Maybe. I'll try and touch base with her tomorrow, make sure she's okay." Mr. Wayne scooted the chair away, glancing at the clock. "Visiting hours are almost over; we better go say goodbye to your boss."

"Yes, of course," Minion agreed quickly, fetching up their trays and disposing of the contents in the trash on the way out. He had a lot to think about later.

\---

When they arrived back on Sir's floor he was staring at the television mournfully as it did nothing but crackle static at him. He was so preoccupied he didn't even notice them come in for several moments before Minion cleared his throat politely.

"Oh! I wish I could just go fix their cable." Sir waved a hand at the snowy nothingness. 

"I'm sure they would appreciate it, Sir." Minion let his feelers curl, tasting his own mixture feelings in his water; apprehension, worry, and a flicker of hope. Sometimes he hated being a fish, everything he felt leaked our through his skin in the form of chemical signals.

Ms. Joan came in behind them, moving around them like they were furniture. Sir froze and stared at her, sizing her up for their next verbal battle. Minion rolled his eyes. Though he understood that Sir had difficulties filtering through the feelings of others he still found it childish to be so difficult to the people trying to help him.

Mr. Wayne's phone chose that moment to ring, screaming a dreaded name into the confines of the room.

"Rooooooooooxanne! You don't have to put on the red light!" it chirped, then paused, then repeated the phrase.

Sir forgot to even launch his protest, he was staring at Mr. Wayne with such blatant confusion. Ms. Joan took the opportunity to get his blood pressure, shooting Mr. Wayne a nasty glare over her shoulder.

"I...uh...sorry. I forgot to turn it off. I better take this though," Mr. Wayne sputtered, coloring in embarrassment. He stepped over by the room's bathroom and flicked the phone open. "Hi, Roxanne. What? No, nothing's wrong. You forgot to call back, so I just wanted to check in on you."

Sir was straining to hear every word, eyes wide and brow furrowed. His lips parted and he licked them. "M-Wayne. Let me talk to her."

Mr. Wayne nodded at Sir, holding up a single finger. "Yes, I'll let you call next time, sure. Don't forget this time."

"Wayne! I want to talk to her!" Sir was struggling to sit more upright. Ms. Joan was trying to admonish him but he held a hand up with a glare that barred her from speaking. She looked insulted.

Mr. Wayne put a hand over the speaker and mouthed 'wait a second' before continuing. "Hey, guess where I'm at right now!" Mr. Wayne headed over towards the bed, Sir reaching out his good hand eagerly as Mr. Wayne bent to hand over the phone. 

"No, not there. Not there either. I'm visiting our favorite blue buddy. He wants to say he-what's that?" Mr. Wayne straightened sharply. "Oh, it'll just take a second."

He paused. "Oh come on, just- Roxy? Roxanne?" He held the phone away from his ear, looking at the screen, perplexed. "She hung up."

"Perhaps her call dropped, call her back!" Sir demanded, struggling to reach for the phone. Mr. Wayne gave in and handed it to him, showing him the redial feature before Sir's ear was plastered to the phone.

Minion exchanged a wary look with Mr. Wayne as Ms. Joan strode out of the room in a huff.

Sir tapped his good foot impatiently, listening to what must have been multiple rings. His face abruptly lit up. "Oll-ello, Roxanne! How ar..." His brow furrowed. 

"Message at the beep? What bee-oh that one. Roxanne? Hello? Hello? Roxanne? Why are you so quiet? Roxanne?" His voice raised slightly in pitch with every questioning greeting.

His face fell with the phone, flopping his hand into his lap and staring dismally at the fading screen.

"Hey...hey, little buddy," Mr. Wayne said softly, touching his shoulder through the flimsy gown.

Sir had never looked as small to Minion as he did in that moment, utterly defeated in an overlarge hospital gown.

"Here. You should go. Visiting hours are over." Sir shoved Mr. Wayne's phone into his hand. 

"Hey, don't sweat it, she'll come aro-"

Sir interrupted before Mr. Wayne could finish consoling him.

"Just get out." 

Sir then leaned back in his bed and closed his eyes, barring further conversation.

Minion and Mr. Wayne exchanged another glance and left quietly, leaving Sir in his empty room.


	8. Lemon Parade

Roxanne woke the next morning and stared at her phone for several moments before shoving it into her purse and getting ready for work. The voicemail would still be there when she was off, though it niggled at the back of her mind.

She finally gave in to the urge and listened to it in the back of the taxi on her way to work. 

"-ee-oh that one."

She tried to ignore the way her heart fluttered and her stomach flipped at the sound of his voice. The mix of feelings - between fury and affection - made her feel ill.

"Roxanne? Hello? Hello? Roxanne? Why are you so quiet? Roxanne?" His voice grew higher as he queried, raising in worry and what must have been fear.

Roxanne felt like a monster, doing this to him. But at the same time, she knew now was not a good time for either of them to be involved in a serious conversation; he had to concentrate on getting better, and she had to concentrate on picking up the pieces of her life. She sat quietly for a moment, watching the buildings pass by the car windows and letting her voicemail menu go through its cycle twice. She hit play, just to indulge in the way he said her name, so soft and gentle. She already felt sick, why not listen again?

\---

Her arrival at work was less eventful, owing to the fact that Rosa had made it extremely clear that Roxanne's coworkers weren't to be startling her any time soon. She made her way to her desk, taking the long way around the office to steer clear of Hal's desk. 

Two hours later, she finally finished editing her research on the link between artificial sugars and the rise in childhood obesity. She groaned, leaning back and stretching her back. Really, she could have just said that parents should stop feeding their kids junk food and been done with it. But, adding to the churning in her belly, she was being forced to grind through an asinine research project that was meant to be less strenuous than her usual job. Her boss had already refused to put her back on air just yet, what with the way she favored her arm still, and her snappishness the last few days.

Roxanne was of the opinion that Rosa could shove the snappishness right where it counted at this point. This was the fifth revision in the last hour and her back was killing her.

The report was garbage anyway, at least to her. They had done the story two years ago. She sighed and stretched her fingers.

"Hey, you look like you could use this." 

Roxanne looked up with a startled snort at the intern. Sandra G...something. She had just started a week ago, right after the Incident. What a week to start. She glanced down warily at the pop can being offered to her.

Dr Pepper. Of course.

Roxanne accepted it with a shaky smile. "Thanks."

"I got assigned to cover the city clean up, and do a report on the heroes," Sandra chirped.

"Oh, that so?" Roxanne popped open the can and took a drink. She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise; some intern was getting that big a role?

"Well, I mean...I'm just doing the research. You know, background and stuff..." Sandra touched her index fingers together awkwardly, flushing.

Ah. That made more sense. 

"Sounds like fun, more fun than this anyway," Roxanne smiled, casting a hand at her computer screen.

"Ha ha, yeah." Sandra rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't really know much about all the history behind these guys, so Ms. Rosa said I should do the research. Be a fresh eye, I guess."

"Makes sense." Roxanne was starting to wonder when this girl would leave for her own desk.

"I heard that you got kidnapped. Did that happen a lot?" 

God, the girl was clueless.

"Mmhm," Roxanne hummed into the can as she took a drink.

"Was it scary?" Sandra's voice dropped to an awed whisper.

"Not always. Not that often actually." Roxanne had to admit that much at least. "Sometimes it was kind of fun in a way."

"Wow. So are you dating the blue one now, or the big guy?"

Roxanne almost spit the Dr Pepper all over her desk. "Excuse me?"

"I...just, the whole office is talking about it, and I thought I should ask rather than go by rumors..." Sandra looked terrified, and rightly so. 

Roxanne had stood up from her chair and was shaking, her hands clenched. "It is no one's business who I am or am not dating, you nosy twit."

"I'm sorry!" Sandra squeaked, her eyes welling up with tears.

"I...just...Go!" Roxanne snarled.

The intern fled in a hurry, drawing stares. Roxanne was suddenly aware of the dead silence that had fallen all around them. She looked at her coworkers' shocked faced and felt her face burn and her eyes sting. She really didn't deserve this, being gossiped about behind her back.

"What?!" she managed to spit out before sitting back down at her computer and staring at her report in misery, awaiting the inevitable.

\---

Roxanne stepped back into the hotel room in a cold fury. It broke abruptly with a scream. She flung her purse down on her bed just to hear the noise. Rosa had sent her on an enforced vacation, after assuring her that the gossip would be taken care of in a staff meeting. 

It wasn't fair. 

Roxanne loved her job, really, she did. Right now it was the only thing giving her a schedule, keeping her mind - mostly - preoccupied, and preventing her from going completely crazy.

She flopped backwards on the bed and buried her face in her hands, running her hands up and pulling on her hair with a groan of anger. 

Then the door rattled under someone's knocking.

Of course. Perfect timing.

She stomped over and jerked it open, ready to give whoever it was an earful. For the last two days someone had kept coming to her door asking for some guy named Earl, who she had found was down the way a little. The numbers on the doors were faded, so her 100 looked more like 108.

"Hey, for the last time, Earl is seven doors down tha-" The admonishments died in her throat when she found herself staring at a broad chest and an arm upraised to knock again. 

"Wayne."

"Roxy," he smiled sheepishly. "Can I come in?"

"How did you find me?" She narrowed her eyes, choosing not to answer the last part for the time being. She was not all that fond of being stalked.

"Super smell, remember? When you weren't home, I got worried something happened to you," he admitted, his hands apart with palms upraised.

"Why is everyone so worried about me? What, do you think I can't take care of myself?" Roxanne glowered at him. She didn't have to put up with this.

"Hey, don't bite my head off for being concerned for a friend. You've been really evasive lately; it's getting all of us worried." Wayne crossed his arms, frowning down at her like a parent scolding a child.

"Evasive? You want to lecture me about evasiveness? You've got no right, none! You left us!" Roxanne couldn't help the words pouring out, but it felt so cathartic to get it off her chest. "You abandoned this whole city and almost let it burn because you...you wanted to play with your stupid ukulele!"

"I...That's not why I left, Roxanne!" Wayne protested, his face twisted into something between anger and hurt.

"Oh, don't you even. You almost let me die. You almost let Megamind die." Her heart twisted at his name on her lips, but it needed to be said. "The whole damn city, just for some guitars and singing songs no one will ever hear! What, did you think you could just reappear out of the blue as some rock star? That no one would recognize you? You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm dying, Roxanne," Wayne hissed, leaning down so she could see his eyes. The sun cast a shadow over his back, blotting out the blue and turning them to slate.

Roxanne gaped at him for a second before bringing a hand up to her mouth in horror. All those things she'd said...

"I...didn't mean to blurt it out like that," Wayne looked over his shoulder, pained. "Can I come in?"

"O-of course," Roxanne stepped aside and shut the door behind him, leaning back against it was a shaky sigh.

"How long have you known?" she whispered.

Wayne sat down on her bed, looking down at his feet. "A little before the opening of the museum. It's been kept hush hush, of course. Right after I faked my death I went to my parents, and we worked out a quick contract with my uncle Tom over the phone. My songs weren't to be released until after my death, and all proceeds were to go to Metro City community projects. I still have about five to ten years, by then...It was all supposed to work out."

"But it didn't," Roxanne murmured, understanding now. She sat down beside him and touched his shoulder lightly.

"No, it didn't. I expected Megamind to get bored in a couple weeks, give up the villainy, and just...adapt. He's good at that, you know." He shot her a sideways glance. "Adapting, changing how he operates. You just have to give him a chance to do it."

Roxanne swallowed. "I just can't do that right now."

"And why not?" Wayne stared at her levelly.

"Because..." She couldn't help it. Everything came spilling out in a rush. The way she couldn't go back to her apartment, how seeing the remains of Metro Tower made her feel short of breath, how elevators were making her shaky in the knees because they reminded her of flying. She told him about her boss forcing her into a vacation after she made that intern cry. She told him about the rumors, how Hal had come into his powers, and how Megamind had ultimately destroyed the one thing giving her normalcy in her life, which was ironically Megamind himself in someone else's skin.

Then she cried. Wayne curled an arm around her and pulled her into his lap, smoothing her hair down as she sobbed into his chest while he rocked her gently.

She cried for a long time.

When she was done, he offered a tissue off her night stand. She took it and wiped her eyes, looking up and seeing that he had streaks on his face too. She wiped them, almost as an afterthought, and chuckled a little.

"We're all such a mess," Wayne said with a weak little laugh that sounded forced.

"We are," Roxanne croaked through a wobbly smile. 

"Want to blow this place, get some ice cream, and go watch a John Cusack movie at my place?" Wayne offered. "That always makes me feel better. You could stay with me a while. It's outside the city; you'll get fresh air and some space to think for a while. I'm not there mostly during the day; I've got other things to take care of."

Roxanne laughed, sniffling and rubbing her nose with the tissue, clambering off his knees. "You know, what the hell."

Wayne smiled at her fondly, ruffling her hair. "That's the spirit."

"Wayne...Are you okay?" Roxanne paused, having been about to go to the bathroom to clean up. "I mean, with the..."

Wayne smiled at her, folding his hands between his knees. "I've come to terms with it. Overall...I'm pretty content with what I've done. I just have a couple more things to accomplish."

"I...well...That's good," Roxanne said, lamely.

"It is. Life's too short; you have to seize every opportunity to make it what you want it to be," Wayne continued, looking at her bedside table. "So don't go missing out, alright?"

"I won't," Roxanne promised.


	9. Gravity

The next morning Roxanne awoke feeling relaxed, sitting up and stretching. She was still careful of her shoulder, and her ankle was still sore despite the brace, but other than that she had been recovering nicely. She ran a hand through her hair, shaking it back into place, before going about folding her blankets and placing them to the side.

Last night had been ended with a John Cusack movie and her insistence that she sleep on the couch. After a short argument, she had won out and slept on the horseshoe shaped lounge. It was surprisingly comfortable, and knowing Wayne was just in the other room made her feel somehow much safer than she had felt at the motel.

With a sigh she set the blankets on the corner of the couch and headed for the bathroom, having gotten a quick tour of the place last night. Wayne had some errands to take care of in the morning, but said he'd be back by afternoon, and to do any other exploring she felt like while she was there. 

The bathroom was large and luxurious, without being overbearing. In one corner a walk in tiled shower was dripping from its last use. On the other side was a door that led to the toilet closet, a long counter alongside with a single bowl and a sander set to the side like a shaver. She smiled a little at the absurdity of it and headed for the crowning center of the bathroom: a whirlpool tub. 

Turning on the taps, she retreated to the living room and retrieved her bag of things, fishing out a comfortable shirt, fresh underthings, and sweats, returning just as the water reached the halfway point. She closed and locked the door, going about stripping off her dirty sleepwear and tossing it into a pile on the floor. She'd have to find the laundry room sometime just to know where it was.

She sighed, sitting on the edge of the tub and dipping her feet, sans ankle brace, into the steaming water. Spying a basket of bath salts she rifled through them, finding something that smelled like sandalwood and dumping a handful in, watching it fizz. 

Wayne had said they would need to sit down and talk when he got back, to try and sort things out. Roxanne had reluctantly agreed, and wasn't sure what to expect. She kicked the tap off with a foot and slid into the water with a sigh, closing her eyes and just relaxing for a while.

She hadn't relaxed like this in far too long.

\---

Minion swallowed nervously, looking down at the bowl of thrashing fish in his hands. He had gone to visit the stream yesterday with a cup to collect water in, and had tested it high in pollutants. He carefully slipped inside the lair, trying not to slosh the water too much. The madtom was not pleased that he had taken it upon himself to rescue her, and was making it abundantly clear. She stopped her wriggling long enough to turn sideways to give him such an ugly look he had to look away. There was really only one place to put her, so he made his way up to the top of the stairs and dumped her gently into his own large tank.

"There," he said aloud, knowing she couldn't really understand him in this language. "Safe now..."

She glowered at him through the glass and squirmed backwards into the opposite wall. From there she made a quick circuit of the whole tank and chose to shelter in his over-sized fish castle.

Minion sighed, exhaling bubbles and flapping his gills. "I know you're mad now, but hopefully you'll understand later...I have to go visit with my friend. Just make yourself at home."

As useless as it was to talk to her without being in the same water, it still made him feel better to say something before he turned and left.

\---

Wayne returned to his home feeling just a little mentally exhausted. After a lot of footwork and research with his uncle Tom, he had managed to force the city and state into whittling Megamind's punishments down to just eight life sentences and a cumulative ten thousand dollars in fines - mostly noise violations and a few for destruction of property. 

It wasn't everything, but it was enough to make it manageable. Wayne was not about to watch the city force Megamind into indentured servitude, and had argued that the council's idea of setting the standards required to erase each sentence amounted to just that. The jury had 'hem'd and 'haw'd a little, but in the end had decided to go with something unusual, to match the unusual circumstances.

Megamind had eight life sentences; one to be erased for every tenth person he saved. It was still steep, but much more reasonable than the twenty five lives the council wanted for each of the eighty sentences. Since Megamind had never been given a trial to begin with, the legality of their demands would not stand up to Tom's shrewdness. 

The ten thousand Wayne could do nothing for, but now that it was all settled he could at least let Megamind know that he was going to be lighter in the pockets, but not being sent back to jail.

He yawned, trudging through the door of the schoolhouse and rubbing at his shoulder where his wounds from Titan were still healing. He tripped the trap door and headed down the stairs into his living room. There he paused, smiling fondly at Roxy as she napped on his couch. 

She was like his kid sister, in a way. He wasn't but a year older than her in actual years, but he had noted in hindsight that his acceleration in aging had come upon him at about twenty nine. Since that age his initial attraction to her - who wouldn't be? she was a strong woman - had changed rapidly into an affectionate brotherly type emotion. He felt older than her, felt like he should protect her like a good big brother would. 

At first he had put it down to just losing interest in her as a romantic prospect, but now it made more sense biologically. The doctors had even told him that the chemistry in his brain had changed over time. He had to wonder if he was even capable of reproducing anymore. Maybe his time had passed when he was in his late teens.

There was really no use in thinking about that anymore though; he had learned very early on that humans were too fragile for him anyway.

He sat down on the couch and touched her on the shoulder, lightly so as not to harm her. She snorted, jerking awake.

"Hey, have a relaxing day?" He smiled warmly.

"Yeah," she groaned, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's just about one in the afternoon. Easy to lose track down here. You feel up for a walk on the beach? I could use some head-clearing, and company is better than going by myself."

Really his ulterior motive was to lure her into a sense of tranquility so she would be more open talking about things. She had mentioned that Megamind had lied to her by using another man's face to get close to her, but hadn't gone into great detail.

He needed to know more specifics if he was going to be able to help either of them.

"Sure, just let me put on some shoes..." Roxy trailed off, looking down at her sweats. "And some shorts; it's still hot outside."

"No problem, I gotta make a phone call anyway," Wayne said, pulling out his cell phone and heading for the stairs. "Just meet me upstairs."

He headed up without waiting for her response, dialing up the number for the hospital and getting the receptionist to transfer him to Megamind's room. It rang several times before Minion's voice greeted him on the other line.

"Hello, Megamind's room."

"Hey Minion, your boss there?" Wayne leaned on the teacher's desk. 

"Yes, he is, Mr Wayne. Sir, Mr. Wayne would like to talk to you."

"Mmph." Had Wayne not had super hearing he wouldn't have been able to hear Megamind's unenthusiastic noise.

"Oh, Sir, you've been like this all day..." Minion sounded distressed.

"Tell him it's okay, Minion. I went and checked on Roxy, she's okay. I just wanted to touch base with you fellas before the day was over. I'm sorry I didn't come today; I had to take care of some things. Still have a few to take care of."

"I'm sure it's quite alright, and I will be sure to tell him, Mr. Wayne."

"Thanks. Hope the rest of your day is better, Minion."

"Oh, you have no idea..." Minion sighed, surprisingly candid.

"Bye." Wayne hung up, sticking the phone into his pocket, just as Roxy's head appeared above the trap door.

He held out an elbow gallantly, smirking at her. "Shall we then?"

She smiled, the warmth of it not quite reaching her eyes, and accepted his elbow. "We shall. Lead on."

\---

They walked down the peninsula for about half a mile in silence, watching the waves of Lake Michigan lapping at the shore. 

"So," he finally spoke.

"So," she countered, warily.

"So spill. Tell me everything. I mean, about Megamind. Start there, because that's something you're going to need to deal with a lot sooner than you think you will." Wayne stopped at a rock jutting out of the beach and toed his shoes off. He sat and patted the spot beside him, digging his toes into the sand.

She sat, tense and ready to move away from him. It hurt to see her so nervous around him, but he tried not to let it show on his face. 

"I don't know where to start on that even..." She rubbed at her injured shoulder, wincing when it hurt.

"Start from when the observatory exploded. Go from there," Wayne encouraged gently. "Take it one step at a time, and go as slow as you need to."

It was dark by the time she was done. She had cried more than once and had to stop. But throughout it all Wayne had pointed things out to her; despite Megamind being in control of the city he had still not directly caused physical harm to anyone. Almost all the harm he had caused had been indirect, such as his closing the banks leading to a near economic collapse.

She had given him that much, but had still been adamant that Megamind had no moral base. To her surprise, he had agreed with her.

"He grew up in that prison, Roxy. He's not even a foster kid. I don't think he's had much social interaction since school. Of course he doesn't have the same moral base we have."

Roxy had seemed a little taken aback by the information. "Grew up in the prison...How? Why would that have ever been legal?"

"Because it isn't legal, I suppose. I don't know the specifics. I just remember he came to school in an orange jumpsuit on the prison bus." Wayne shrugged. "If I had to guess I would say that that schoolhouse back there is the last school he formally attended."

"Hm..." Roxy ran her feet through the sand, making patterns.

"We...weren't very nice to him, I'm ashamed to say." Wayne rubbed the back of his neck.

"I...He told me something to that effect, when he was being Bernard." Roxy's eyes were still downcast, but he could see the gears turning.

"Did you think everything he told you was a lie?" he questioned.

"Well, it would make sense if it was..."

"Sure, it would make sense. He does lie, sometimes. When he has to," Wayne said, pointedly.

"And that just makes it okay to pretend to be someone else? Because he had to?" Roxy's eyes flashed like chips of ice.

"No, that doesn't make it okay." Wayne held up his hands defensively. "It isn't okay. You're right to be mad. What I'm trying to make you understand is that he had a reason."

"Hmph," Roxy grunted, crossing her arms.

"It's just something to think about. You're going to have to deal with it someday. If not today, then tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Even if you don't see him in your personal life, you're going to see him in your professional life."

"What if I move away?" Roxy threatened. "I could just start over some other city."

"You don't mean that." Wayne smiled at her. "You loved it here too much to leave it when it was in the hands of a madman."

"Heh, caught me." She smiled weakly.

"I am good at catching you! Remember that one time, with the hopping robot?" He grinned.

She laughed, pressing a hand to her lips. "He was so angry that it wouldn't stop jumping around! It was supposed to stomp on buildings, not jump around them. It bounced us both right off..." She trailed off, giggling.

"What about the Equestrinator? The look on his face! I felt so bad for him I couldn't even take him to jail for it," Wayne laughed.

"Oh, God, don't get me started on that heavy metal unicorn! It was so uncomfortable."

They spent a good portion of the rest of the evening reminiscing, taking their minds off the weights the world had laid on both their shoulders.


	10. Carnival of Rust

The next four days passed with Minion's concern for Sir increasing. With the added stress of the madtom not talking to him it was becoming unbearable. Mr. Wayne had come in briefly two of the days, and it had been a relief to hear the voice of someone aside from himself.

Sir mostly talked in grunts and sighs these days. Mr. Wayne, Minion could tell, was getting just as tired of it as he was. 

Therefore he was very relieved when the day came that Sir was being released and Mr Wayne had asked Minion to leave the room so he could give Sir a talking to. Minion sighed, walking down the hall a little ways to sign the exit paperwork at the nurse's station. Since Sir's wrist still hurt him a lot after that mornings physical therapy he had told the nurses to allow Minion to sign for him.

The paperwork alone took almost twenty minutes to fill properly. Minion was glad that Mr. Nolan had offered to pay up Sir's medical bills in exchange for Sir's help in procuring the rebuilding contracts. It had worked out in the end, as Mr. Nolan had hired from within the city and put the previously unemployed to work. It would tide a good portion of the city over until their economy could start to recover and their old jobs would become available again.

At least, that was how it had been explained to Sir and Minion. Mr. Wayne had agreed it was a good idea.

Minion groaned in relief, placing the last signature in the proper place and handing the sheaf of papers back to the head nurse, bidding her a nice day. When he returned to the room he could hear Mr. Wayne still talking, so he chose to wait out in the hall instead of intruding.

\---

"I can't do this on my own." Wayne was a little at a loss. As soon as he'd said Roxy's name a flurry of emotions had passed over Megamind's face, ending in the most blank expression he'd ever seen the other alien wear. It was a little disturbing really.

"She doesn't want me, Wayne..." Megamind said flatly, looking down at his boots.

Wayne had at least convinced him to help him get his pants - loose sweats he suspected Minion had purchased only this morning - on. He wasn't sure if Megamind's pride would allow him to let Wayne put the one boot he needed to wear on for him. So Wayne opted to just wait and see what he said about it instead of broaching that subject while they were on something more important.

"She's still figuring things out. I think you should call her though, make sure she knows you're still around." He leaned against the wall, watching at Megamind pulled the button up shirt on over his shoulders. 

Megamind normally would have been embarrassed, baring his skinny and scarred chest, but right now seemed more preoccupied with thought. "And have her not answer again? I can't go through that. I can't listen to her voice and not be able to just reach out and touch her either. It's driving me mad."

"Relationships are like that, I hear."

"This...It's irrational. It doesn't make any sense, and it feels like it's eating me up from the inside out."

"It's going to hurt no matter what, little buddy," Wayne consoled. 

"What if it never stops hurting?" Megamind's voice was quiet, almost talking to himself more than Wayne.

"Then you've got to deal with it."

Megamind sighed loudly, then touched a hand lightly to his ribs with a grimace. 

"Want help with your shoe?" Wayne finally broached that subject, hoping a change of pace would erase the pained look off Megamind's blue face.

Megamind bit his lip and looked away. "Yeah, sure. If you're offering."

Wayne couldn't help the smile that flitted across his face. Still hiding behind that pride. He bent and tugged the boot onto the foot that wasn't covered in the thigh to ankle cast.

Wayne left the laces at the top for Megamind himself to deal with, going to open the door for the nurse he had heard speaking with Minion.

A trip in a wheelchair and a very awkward attempt to put Megamind into the passenger seat of the invisible car had ended with them giving that up for broke and placing the crippled alien in the backseat after they folded the seat into a double bed. Wayne felt a little envious of Megamind for that feature alone.

He waved goodbye to them on the sidewalk, feeling a crushing sense of deja vu.

\---

Megamind stared at the roof of the car in sullen silence while they left the hospital. It was humiliating, the way he'd had to be helped around everywhere, and it was beginning to eat at him. He would definitely have to make some kind of suit to assist him in various tasks while he was healing. Once his wrist felt better he would start on the blueprints, Minion and the brainbots could take care of the production.

Getting out of the car was just as difficult, and painful, as getting into it. Once out and settled into his hospital loaned wheelchair he couldn't help but look around, feeling more at ease in his home. The dimmer lights didn't hurt his eyes, and there was the comforting hum of electronics. No obnoxious ticking clock sounding like a bomb that never went off.

He yawned, thinking of a nap, then brushed his free hand over his face in irritation. "How am I going to get up to bed, Minion?"

"Oh...Um, Sir? I better tell you before you go up, I brought a friend home to stay with us for a while...She's a little shy though!" Minion held his hands up, defending against Megamind's incredulous eyes peering over his fingers. "She doesn't take up much space, anyway. She's staying in my bed."

"I...what. What. You brought a stranger here? And put them in your fish tank?" Megamind was not amused.

"Well, she needs to be in water to breathe, so that's the best place for her..." Minion rubbed at the side of his dome, his feelers curling sheepishly.

Megamind just stared at him blankly.

"Right, I'll just...go get the brainbots..." Minion made a hasty retreat.

Megamind narrowed his eyes at his friends back. He did not need to deal with their secret lair being public right now, not while he was still recovering. He wrinkled his nose, glowering at the stairs. When did he think it would be a good idea to make that old office their sleeping quarters anyway?

He glanced back to see Minion returning with half a dozen brainbots, all of which clustered around him eagerly. "Ow..." he winced as one curled a tendril around his broken hand just a little too tightly.

"Now, be gentle with Daddy...gentle!" he admonished as they lifted him. 

It took a few winces and yelps, but they finally got him up the stairs and onto his mattress. He closed his eyes and lay there for a few moments, catching his breath. Then he turned his head towards Minion's tank, curious to see his new friend.

Nothing. Just Minion's castle and his garden of pond plants.

"I thought you said you had a friend in there?" he queried, as Minion tromped in with his folded wheelchair.

"Oh, she's in the castle. She hasn't been coming out except to eat. I think I made her mad..." Minion looked upset at the prospect.

"What is she?" Megamind couldn't imagine a person - his first conclusion - being at all small enough to fit into Minion's (admittedly large) fish castle.

"Brindled madtom, she's a fish. What else would she be?" Minion looked perplexed. 

Megamind had to smile at that and his own leap to conclusions. "Nothing, never mind. Why a fish? I thought most Earth fish weren't as intelligent as you are."

"Well, they aren't as...experienced in the world, I guess?" Minion twiddled his thumbs, sitting down on the floor.

"So what are you planning to do with her, anyway?" Megamind honestly didn't mind the distraction right now. He was tired, but with his mind going a mile a minute over his conversation with Wayne it was making it difficult to sleep.

"I don't really know now. I just got her out of the stream, since it might have killed her eventually..."

"I see." Megamind observed the ceiling for a moment, thinking. "Do you want to give her a body? Or the ability to speak?"

"I don't think that's up to me, that's up to her." Minion sounded a little unnerved by the idea.

"Hm. I think I need to sleep now."

"Alright, Sir. Just call for me if you need me," Minion stood, turning off the overhead light and pulling a blanket over Megamind so that he could reach it with his better hand.

"I will," Megamind said, closing his eyes just as the door shut behind his piscine friend.


	11. Running Up That Hill

Megamind had not meant to sleep in as late as he had. By the time he awoke the next day, it was nearly noon, and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton. He groaned and tried to get himself up, finding that he was not even capable of rolling onto his side due to his broken ribs.

"Miniiioooon?" he called tentatively.

There was no answer. He glared at the ceiling and glanced over at the tank to be sure Minion wasn't inside it.

A small catfish glowered back at him, just sitting there without moving. It was kind of creeping him out, so he looked away. "Brainbots!"

Three entered the room shortly, buzzing curiously around him.

"Help Daddy into his chair. Carefully."

Obediently, they lifted him enough to awkwardly clamber into the wheelchair. It was then he saw the note beside his bed, dangling from the ceiling by a bit of string. 

"Gone to the store? Eh." Megamind shrugged, and glanced at his brainbots. "One of you stay with me to help push. You other two just go back to what you were doing."

With the remaining help he was able to get over to his drawing board, plucking a pencil out of the cup with the hand that was just restricted by the wrist brace. He wouldn't be able to draw for long, but hopefully he could get a start on the blueprints for a more heroic venture than his previous inventions. 

Ten minutes later had the basic layout for a set of power boots and a cape made of a much more durable fabric he theorized could be made synthetically. He handed them to the brainbot and instructed him to hang them. It always seemed better to hang his various ideas; they became all that much clearer. With his head feeling so fuzzy from the plethora of medications he was on, he could use all the clear he could get.

As that was being done he cast another glance over at the tank, where the fish still sat, staring at him with cold, fishy eyes. He shuddered and grimaced. 

Then he looked up and recoiled in horror. His blueprints, when superimposed, formed the unmistakable face of one Roxanne Ritchie. With a frustrated yelp he scooted his chair closer inch by inch, grasping the first within reach and tearing it from the string. It crumpled in his hand. He took down the other two plans as well, wadding them into a ball with the rest. He rested his hand atop the papers, catching his breath after the exertion.

He turned and glowered at the fish, who was still staring at him. "What?!"

He made his way over to the tank and poked the glass. "Stop that! You're creepy!"

The fish swam back a ways, then stopped and stared at him again.

"Ugh. I seriously don't get you. You can't even say anything," he grunted, tapping the tank again. "I don't know what he sees in you. You don't look that unusual; I imagine your brain capacity is fairly low even."

He tapped his chin, looking back to the still-dangling strings. "I wonder how much you can actually talk to him about..." A sudden fear hit him in the chest.

"You won't tell, him, right? Oh geez, I'm sorry I called you creepy! I mean, you are, but I'm sorry anyway!" His face was plastered against the glass.

"Promise you won't tell!" 

The fish just floated there, silent and judgmental.

He glared at her. "Fine, I'll make sure you can promise then. Brainbots!"

\---

An hour later Megamind sighed and looked at his handiwork, floating in the bowl in a daze. It really hadn't been as hard as he had expected. It would be a little bit before she was capable of vocalizing, but overall it had been successful. Any minute now the suppressing drugs would wear off and her body would go through the transformations necessary to facilitate what he needed of her. As a bonus, she would be more suitable company for Minion, though he imagined that Minion would soon lose interest in her.

That would suit him just fine. Minion was his companion first, after all. He grunted, typing one-handed onto his computer console to be sure it was monitoring her vital signs. If anything happened, the brainbots would be more able to handle it than he would, with his lowered dexterity and her surprisingly painful defenses.

He rubbed his hand where she had stung him with the hollow spine running through her top fin. He had to admit, she was at least a little feisty. She had that going for her.

He yawned, feeling a little tired from even the small amount of activity. He'd already had the brainbots bring his mattress and blankets down, thinking it wise to station them closer to the bathroom. He headed off to have a nap, leaving the fish to incubate a transformation under the influence of sedatives and painkillers.

\---

"Oh Sir...What have you done..." Minion's voice sounded mournful. 

Megamind snorted and looked up at his fishy friend, rubbing his eyes with the back of a hand. "What?"

"I...Sir. This is wrong." Minion held a bowl in his hands.

"Why? I just made her better able to communicate," Megamind said, struggling into a sitting position. 

"With who? I could talk to her just fine!" Now the fish looked angry.

"Oh come on, she's just a dumb fish. She can't have been much for deep, intellectual stimulation..." He snorted.

"That isn't the point! She's hurting now. You hurt her! Look!" Minion proffered the bowl, where the madtom was hovering near the bottom, curled in on herself and twitching. "She is my friend."

"In my evil lair!" Megamind countered, though the sight of her made him want to cringe. He hadn't really thought of the process as being that painful. For some reason it had just not occurred to him.

"What is wrong with you?" Minion whispered, horrified. Without waiting for an answer he stomped up the stairs to the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

Megamind watched him go in stunned silence. How could he not have realized how important this one silly Earth fish was to Minion? He must be losing his mind. How could he do that to her, not knowing that it would hurt her? He had never hurt anyone before; he had even avoided hurting animals. His boots weren't real baby seal leather, after all; they were just made by a company called Sealz. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Minion!" he called, trying to get up and follow him. His broken leg begged to differ, dumping him directly on his side where he curled on the floor, hissing in agony. Everything that was broken, bruised, or fractured made itself very plainly known that it was still in such a state. He lay there for several minutes, listening to his breath and the terrible silence Minion had left in his wake.

"Minion?" he called tentatively, getting no answer. With a frown he managed to roll over and drag himself back onto his mattress. He groaned and laid back, staring up at the rafters. This was just great. He reached under his pillow and pulled out the crumpled papers, smoothing them out and staring at his handiwork. Drawings could never compare to her actual face.

He suddenly felt the whole idea of getting the fish to promise not to tell Minion was possibly one of his worst ideas ever. 

\---

Minion gently tipped the bowl so it spilled both fish and water back into the larger tank, trying not to jolt her any more than he had to. She thrashed in the more open water, sinking down to the soft mud on the bottom and wriggling down into it as though to bury herself. Minion sighed and rested a metal hand against the tank.

"I'm so sorry..." he murmured.

Her mouth moved in the dirt, but he couldn't hear what noises she was making. Minion paused and looked up at the light, reaching over and pulling the chain to turn it off. Then, with only slight hesitation, he reached into his bowl and pulled his body out, slipping into the tank quietly. 

He rested a tendril on her back. "Just stay still."

"Ah...hhh..." she rasped through a throat just beginning to be able to make sound.

"Shh, stay quiet. I know it hurts; it happened to me too." Minion grimaced in sympathy. Granted, when this had been done to him he had been much, much younger. Too young to remember being any other way. "It's better if you stay quiet, it'll be over in about an hour."

Her whimper was heart wrenching. She squirmed deeper into the mud, her fins quivering as they changed. Minion swallowed, knowing this could very well kill her. She was older, fully formed and grown. It was going to be worse for her.

Minion had been genetically modified when he was just hatched, having barely formed, and with a yolk sac still attached to his belly even. His bones, still soft at that stage, had molded much more fluidly to what was required of him. His skull had grown to accommodate his larger brain, mutating the rest of his body around it. It had been incredibly painful, he recalled, but it was a very vague memory. That had occurred almost half a year before he had met Sir and bonded to him through some instinctual need that drove him to protect him. Now he understood better that the modifications had programmed him to do just that; bond with the first suitable being he came into familiar contact with. It was why Sir's parents had avoided spending extended periods of time with him.

Now all he could do was lay a tendril on this poor fish's back and hope that Sir had not botched the job.


	12. We Used to Be Friends

Two days later Megamind was feeling completely awful. Not only was Minion not speaking to him unless absolutely necessary, but the madtom had pretty much told him everything. Her visual accuracy had previously not allowed her to see what had been hanging from the ceiling, but his actions had been enough for Minion to guess. Not that Minion had said much to him aside from telling him it was a stupid reason to drastically change the madtom's entire life over.

Megamind now felt Minion was right; he had been rationing his painkillers much more shrewdly and found it easier to think things through. Not that thinking about anything made it better; Roxanne still had not called, and he had hurt Minion more deeply than he had realized. 

At the very least, to try and make it up to Minion, he had ordered the brainbots to building a suit for the madtom so she would at least be able to get around. He was hoping that he could get on her good side and therefore back onto Minion's.

He wasn't entirely sure it would work.

Megamind frowned at the zipper on his hip, ruining what was once a perfectly good pair of pants. Minion had taken several pairs of his usually seamless pants up to the bedroom, where he cut it off at the left thigh, then sewn in snaps and zippers, compensating for the cast. 

The alien couldn't help but feel nervous and giddy, despite the underlying guilt he felt. Wayne had showed up briefly yesterday to invite them to a movie night, and he had mentioned that he had invited Roxanne as well. 

He grunted, allowing one of the brainbots to get the zipper. Thankfully Minion was still thoughtful enough to place a guard strip inside so it wouldn't chafe his skin, nor get caught when being zipped up. 

"Minion?" he called, biting his lip immediately after while awaiting a response.

The door opened and Minion stared down at him, expression blank.

"Uh...Are you ready?" Megamind tried a smile, but it came out crooked and less confident than he would have liked.

"Yeah, sure. Let me get her." Minion disappeared back into the sleeping quarters, emerging with a glass bowl containing the fully mutated madtom.

Megamind caught her eye and she swung around in the bowl to turn her back on him. She hadn't turned out badly. Her body had grown larger to compensate for the throat modifications and enlarged brain capacity. Her eyes had turned a kind of dull grayish-black, and for the most part her markings had stayed very similar. There were problems, he was aware. For one, she had developed blindness, which he felt exceptionally bad for. He had offered to fix the problem, as he was fairly sure he knew what was causing it, but had been refused. Her voice was a raspy croak, and she had yet to actually say any words.

'Haven't you done enough?' had been the retort, and it still cut him to the quick to think of.

Megamind swallowed and looked away, ashamed. "Right, let's go..." He allowed the brainbots that had been supporting him to help him along to the car, the crutches still very awkward in his clumsy hands.

The car ride there was equally awkward, and one of the only times he had ever ridden anywhere in complete silence. No AC/DC, no Rolling Stones, no Metallica. Nothing. Megamind tapped the fingers of his left hand on his knee, trying not to look at the fish bowl between him and his best friend. 

\---

After their arrival Minion assisted him out of the car, but beyond asking if he was alright, after he made a noise of discomfort, made very little comment. Megamind found it a little promising that he was allowed to hold the fish bowl. Never mind that the weight pressed against him painfully; it was still Minion trusting him to hold onto his friend.

Once at the door Minion set him down carefully, and took the bowl from him, before knocking. 

"Hey, glad you could make it!" Wayne was all smiles, welcoming them into his home. Megamind murmured the expected pleasantries, casting a glance around the room hopefully.

All notions of the past two days fled screaming from Megamind's thoughts when he caught a glimpse of the one person he had desired to see for the past thirteen days. She was sitting on the couch, her head turned slightly to watch them enter, a hand raised in greeting. His hearts stopped for a moment and he wasn't sure if he was breathing, the smell of her perfume stagnating in his nostrils. He stared, openly entranced.

"Uh...hi..." She gave a tight smile. Despite the fact that it didn't quite reach her eyes, he felt she had never been more beautiful. 

"Hhg," he articulated, smoothly. A pang in his left wrist alerted him to the fact that he had clenched the fabric of his pants leg in his hand.

"So!" Wayne cut in, moving through Megamind's line of vision and startling him. "Why don't we start the movie?"

Megamind touched a hand to his chest, feeling his hearts hammer and his pulse quicken. He swallowed and looked at the floor, unnerved by his own reaction. 

"Sounds good to me," she said. A chorus of angels joined her heavenly voice.

Megamind touched his face with his shaking left hand and closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe in and out. He had to play this cool.

"Yesletsthiswillbegreatfun!" he sputtered, shambling over and nearly tripping all over his crutches in the process. Wayne caught his shoulder and masked it as a friendly shake, for which he was grateful. He felt heat travel up his neck, into his cheeks and ears, as the strong man assisted him into the recessed couch area.

After a little shuffling around they were all seated on the couch. Megamind caught himself nearly making a completely pathetic noise in his throat when Roxanne chose to sit with Minion - on the floor, since he would likely tear a hole in the upholstery - and the madtom between them. 

He really could not recall what movie they were watching, but he was vaguely aware that it was one he had previously enjoyed. All he could concentrate on was her smell, the idea of her being so close he could touch her. 

It made him extremely nervous. He felt a cold drop of sweat trickle down the back of his neck, tickling between his shoulder blades. 

Roxanne was staring at the screen, resolutely not looking directly at him. Her hand trailed over the fish bowl, a finger dipping into the water and rubbing the madtom's head absently. The madtom seemed to be enjoying it; she flitted upwards and rubbed against the offered extremity like a cat.

Megamind found himself irrationally jealous of her casual contact and flicked his gaze up to glower at the screen for just a moment. The act of looking away drew his attention to a pile of blankets on a corner of the couch and an effeminate suitcase on the floor.

"Are you staying here?" he asked, unable to stop himself from wondering out loud.

Roxanne's hand came out of the bowl quickly enough to flick water onto his skin-tight top. She hesitated for a moment.

The silence was filled with the comedic input of Molly Ringwald. "...Yes, three big ones, and they lust wimp blood so quit bugging me or I'll sic them all over your weenie ass."

Megamind didn't have the heart to even smile at the line, he just looked at Roxanne with hurt that struck down to his core.

"I need to use the restroom," Roxanne muttered, standing up and breaking the eye contact to hurry away.

"Uh...Look, we were going to let you know, but she's going through a lot right now and -" Wayne started, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, you look! You...You charlatan!" Megamind cut him off, his expression changing to complete rage in the time it would have taken to snap his fingers. "You liar! You faked being my friend just to...to...To move in on my space of living!" Megamind flailed a hand outwards, as if to cast away the exact phrase he had been seeking. 

"What? No, it isn't like that at all!" Wayne held up his hands, backing up as Megamind tried to stumble towards him, shaking a finger in his face.

"Always! Always outdoing me! Can I get a break, just once? No! Never!" Megamind's chest heaved. Behind him Minion had grabbed the fish bowl and slid it behind him, watching his friend with concern.

Megamind continued to advance on Wayne as best he could. "I can't believe this! I should have seen it coming. But she's too good for you!" He swallowed the urge to affirm she was too good for either of them. He was too angry. "Unbelievable."

"Hey!" Wayne caught him by the arms, halting his forward motion as he hissed under his breath. "I am not your enemy here! Calm down." He heard the pipes work as the toilet flushed.

"Make me," Megamind spat, literally, into Wayne's face. 

Wayne blinked and released Megamind - who sat back heavily on the couch - to wipe his cheek dry, brow furrowing. The little blue alien had never acted like this before, not in all their years of battles. Wayne opened his mouth to growl something out and stopped, seeing that Megamind's expression had changed instantly and he was focusing over his shoulder.

He cast a quick glance over to see that Roxanne had reentered the room and was making her way over to the couch, evidently having not heard them. For that they were both thankful.

Wayne noticed how Megamind's whole demeanor shifted when the woman stepped into the room. The coiled muscles in his shoulders smoothed, the furrowed brow lifted. His eyes took on a damp quality, despite the fact that Wayne was well aware that Megamind had a nictitating membrane that prevented tears from falling.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

Wayne glanced at Minion. "Oh, we were debating making some popcorn, and what flavors we ought to try. Minion, want to help me?"

"Uh...Yes! Of course." Minion looked down at the fish in the bowl, but she seemed unaware of it, drifting towards Roxanne's fingers as they settled on the rim of the bowl to steady it while she sat back down.

She watched them go with a wary expression. Megamind didn't seem to notice their passing at all.

\---

Wayne hurried into the kitchen and let the swinging door close all the way behind them before turning to Minion and grabbing his shoulders.

"Oh my God, what is going on with him?" he whispered.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Two days ago the Boss mutated my friend. He'd never have done that if he was firing on all cylinders." Minion narrowed his eyes, his gills flaring. "You aren't actually seeing Ms. Ritchie are you? Because that would be a terrible thing to do, inviting us over so you could tell him."

"No, no, of course not." Wayne shook his head sharply. "She's like my little sister; that's disgusting."

"Good, because I would have had very unfriendly words with you." Minion shook a finger at him before continuing. "I don't know exactly what is going on, but I am quite sure it involves Ms. Ritchie. He accidentally drew her on his blueprints; I found them folded under his pillow. He's never acted this way before though."

"I've got a theory...Grab a bowl out of the cabinet there, would you?" Wayne gestured at one of the ones across from the kitchen island. He, himself, crossed to the microwave and threw a large bag of popcorn inside.

"I'm sort of embarrassed I didn't notice it being so bad earlier..." Minion confessed softly, handing over the bowl he had chosen. "I was just so angry at him for hurting my friend..."

"I can't say I blame you for being angry. But we know he wouldn't do that if he was in his right mind. Now, when we go back out, pass the bowl to Roxanne and sit on the other side of her. Feed your friend or something, just make an excuse. I want to see what happens when she passes the bowl to him."

"I think I see where you're going with this...Alright. We can try it," Minion confirmed, bobbing his fish body inside the globular head of the robot suit. 

\---

In a few minutes the popcorn was popped and dropped into the bowl, ready to be served. The scene when they arrived back to it was much the same. Roxanne was sitting uncomfortably, trying to watch the movie, and Megamind was trying - and failing - to subtly watch her watching the movie.

Minion did as planned, pulling a handful of popcorn out to feed to the madtom and sitting alongside the bowl in order to do so. He passed the bowl to Roxanne, who took her own handful and held it out to Megamind.

Megamind stared at the offered bowl, reaching out his shaking left hand. He moved his hand around several times, trying to figure out how to position it. Their fingertips came within millimeters of each other and he flushed a brilliant purple across his cheeks and ears. The rest of his skin darkened from the now-common pallid gray-blue to a strong sky tone. Minion almost dropped all his popcorn at that - he had assumed the unhealthy skin tone was entirely based on Megamind's injuries taking a toll on his body.

He looked over at Wayne and tilted his head slightly. Wayne gave the slightest of nods and looked back up at the movie.

After the movie was over and awkward goodbyes were said - with Megamind giving Wayne a very dirty look - they headed back to the lair in the same silence they had arrived in. The madtom swam in her bowl, her spirits a little higher than they had been in days. Even this could not break Minion's concentration on the task they would have in front of them to fix the situation.

Long after Megamind had fallen into a drug-induced and exhaustion-assisted slumber, Minion called Wayne and they began to make plans.


	13. Far Away From Home

"You've got to be kidding me," Roxy said, flatly, when Wayne proposed his idea. She put the blankets in her hands down in order to place said hands on her hips.

"No, I'm being dead serious here. I think we're in a rut; getting back to the game for old time's sake might help...well, all of us." Wayne shrugged, folding the blanket he was holding. They were going through what had become a daily habit; folding up her blankets and placing them on a corner of the couch.

"Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, those routines were what was wrong with our lives to begin with?" Roxy scowled, crossing her arms.

"Maybe it's what was right?" Wayne had to admit it was a lame comeback, but he was trying.

"For you, not for me," Roxy mumbled, rubbing her bare arm.

"Well...Then do it for me, if you won't do it for you. I need this." Perhaps talking her into doing it for him would eventually lead to her doing it for herself. He could only hope.

"I don't know about this, Wayne. Won't the city just revolt over it?" Roxy sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"The city doesn't need to know. Think of this as a private kidnap/rescue."

Roxy couldn't help the wry smirk at that. "What, now he's doing house calls?

"Hey, we don't know, he could be a doctor!" Wayne held up his hands, grinning. She was at least warming up to the idea.

Roxy chuckled at the thought. "Alright, I'll do it. But just this once, alright?" She held out her hand for a shake.

"Deal." Wayne shook her hand, but not too tightly. He had some planning to coordinate with Minion.

\---

"I think it would be good for you, Sir."

Megamind had to admit, he was thrilled Minion was speaking to him again, but found himself very wary of what was being proposed. "But haven't we stopped all that? Being the bad guys, I mean?"

"Sure, but if everyone agrees to it, it means it isn't being a bad guy, right?" Minion twiddled his metallic fingers. 

His left arm then gave a quick jerk to the right and he shot a quick look down at the madtom, who was currently sharing his robot head. She glanced up at him sheepishly. He had been trying to teach her the basics of how to move a suit before allowing her to use her own, thereby hopefully mitigating any damages. Megamind could appreciate not having a rampaging robot in his lab.

Megamind sighed and tapped his fingers on the console he was sitting at. "I suppose not, not if everyone agrees."

"And you'll get to see Ms. Ritchie again."

Megamind swallowed hard, fighting down the tensing of muscles that ran down his spine. "That is so..."

"C'mon, you know you want to," Minion smiled, nudging him gently in the shoulder.

Megamind returned the smile halfheartedly. "Minion, Roxanne doesn't want anything to do with me. She has Mr. Perfect now."

"Now, Sir, I tried to tell you last ni-"

"Rrroooxaaanne," croaked the madtom, startling both of them. "Roxanne, Roxanne, Roxanne!" She twisted in excitement, her fins shivering.

"What? Really?" Minion stared down at her, his feelers curling in concern as he looked back up at Megamind. "Apparently she really wants to see Ms. Ritchie also. She's starting to see a little more now, so long as things are close."

"Good. And...Well, she's a special woman." Megamind waved him off. "If we're going to do this, I need to plan. Can you get me some blueprint paper and pencils?"

Minion glanced back down at the madtom, whose eyes were wide with excitement. "Yeah, sure..."

\---

Hours later, Megamind was still happily going about blueprinting the traps he had planned for Metroman. He had first listed every single strength he had seen in the years they had fought, then tried to find proper foils for each. 

 

It has been difficult, but he had a plan that might work. He also had nearly a dozen fail-safes to back up his initial plan, just in case those didn't work.

He tapped his pencil on the edge of the kitchen table. His wrist ached, but that wasn't going to stop him now. He had a goal; if he could outsmart Metroman once and for all, maybe Roxanne would see how much stronger brains were than brawn. She would see just how well he could protect her. He wasn't sure how else he could show her, at this point, how much he wanted to protect her from everything. He couldn't show her how much it hurt him that she had chosen Metroman over him after all.

He sighed, pushing the blueprints aside and snuck a peek over his shoulder to be sure Minion and the madtom weren't in sight. As they were an hour ago, Minion was allowing her to use his suit to walk while guiding her by giving her directions. Minion did some talking aloud, though Megamind was sure he was also doing much more through electrical impulses and chemical information. Fish were more complicated than he had originally imagined.

Assured they would not be bothering him he indulged himself by sketching Roxanne's face; capturing the curves of her cheeks, the way her hair lay across her face, the size of her eyes...He swallowed and ran his fingers across the drawing, smudging the soft pencil lines a little. 

Four days. They had four days before he would see her and prove himself, once and for all.


	14. Lithium Flower

It had taken all four days worth of planning, during which Megamind could just feel his impressive intellect straining to leak out of his ears. The lack of even verbal contact with Roxanne was driving him crazy, and the pain killers were not exactly helping. He had begun to put off taking them as long as he could in order to keep his thinking as clear as possible. It seemed like every time he took one he felt far too at ease with taking shortcuts and making stupid mistakes.

He growled at his aching ribs, his shaking hand, and his pounding headache. Tomorrow was the day, and he would be damned if he was ill prepared. So far all of the actual trap for Metroman had been planned, transported to one of their backup lairs that had not been discovered, and assembled by the brainbots and Minion. The madtom tried to help, mostly to please Minion, but it had been quickly decided she was much better at counting how many frosted flakes were in each box.

"Ten!" came an echoing croak from elsewhere.

Megamind was aware Minion felt guilty for setting her that task, especially since she couldn't yet count higher than ten, but it kept her out of trouble and gave her practice with her fine motor skills. 

"Ten!" she announced again, from across the lair.

"Really?" he asked, trying to stay focused on his blueprints.

"Yes. Ten!"

"Good job," Megamind moaned, letting his cheek rest on his desk. For the past four hours she had been happily reporting her results to him. He really needed to get Minion to teach her to count higher. That she even spoke to him at all was an improvement at least; she still gave him the look of death if he was in sight, but was content to at least give him results like any proper minion would. With luck she could actually work out to be an assistant for Minion, when he had more complicated tasks to attend to.

"Ten!" she called again.

Maybe a painkiller now wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Ten!"

Yes, painkillers and a long nap sounded very good right now.

"Ten."

"Alright, fish, I'm going to take a painkiller and take a nap now...Just tell me what you come up with later, alright?"

"Fine," she skulked into view, her eyes narrowed. "Will tell later." The blindness had worn off, but her robotic suit's bowl had to be modified to compensate for her nearsightedness. It made her look absolutely minuscule, which in turn made her disdainful expression tiny. It also made her look a little silly, since the curved edges warped her figure like a fun house mirror. 

"Good girl. Help me up?" He offered an arm. They had been working on this; thus far she had proven to be relatively competent at being gentle. He had also been working on several devices which would minimize his dependence on both wheelchair and crutches, so hopefully the need for help would not be an issue much longer. 

She grunted and held her hands out, so he could steady himself while getting out of the chair and gathering his crutches. That done he hobbled off to the kitchen to fetch his pillbox, the fish trailing at a distance, no doubt burning holes in his back.

"There you are..." he mumbled, fumbling with the box as it was buried under a mound of cereal. 

He turned around to catch her staring at the refrigerator, where he had hung up his drawing of Roxanne. He had no reason to hide it away now that Minion knew.

"Roxanne," she croaked, bobbing in her bowl, her fins stretching and shrinking as she reached the curves at the top and bottom. She paused the go to the top of the bowl and take a breath of air. Her gills and the air pockets that acted as lungs were not functioning as well as Minion's, requiring her to actually breathe air every few minutes.

"Yes, Roxanne," Megamind confirmed, trying to open the refrigerator with his clumsy, sore hand.

The madtom obliged, surprisingly. Long enough for him to get a bottled water from the cool confines. She looked down her nose at him. "Want Roxanne."

Megamind nearly choked on the pills he was swallowing. As it was, he gagged up enough water to make a mess of his suit. "Wh-what?"

"Want Roxanne." The madtom rolled her eyes. "Pfft. Roxanne..." she paused, which she normally did when she was looking for a certain word that wasn't entirely in her vocabulary yet. "Time...wait...Ween? Want Roxanne, but ween?"

Oh. She wanted Roxanne, she wasn't inferring he did. Not that she would be wrong, it just caught him by surprise.

"It's when. Tomorrow." He found it ironic he was correcting her pronunciation after all the harping about how he said Metro City. He still caught himself trying to rhyme it with the word 'monstrosity', which had been the intention anyway. 

"Why do you want to see her so bad?" He cocked a brow, feeling the painkillers seeping in. Soft, fluffy clouds coating his pain and sucking at his brain.

The madtom shrugged her robot body, a gesture she had picked up just yesterday.

"Fair enough...I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me when Minion gets home."

"Fine." She used the same put-upon tone of voice every time she said that word.

\---

Megamind wasn't exactly sure what time it was when his shoulder was nudged by cold, robotic fingers. He grunted and looked up blearily at the magnified madtom, stifling a cry of alarm. She appeared not to notice, just gave him that same annoyed look.

"Minion home. Is home. Minion is home. Grammar lesson now." She seemed a little more cheerful at the prospect of learning more. Despite her lack of enthusiasm for most of her mutations, she was at least eager to learn.

Megamind sighed and laid his hand over his eyes, calling her back to help him up. She seemed especially irritated by this, her fins flaring and making the spines on her dorsal and pectorals stand out starkly. Megamind ignored it, trying to get up. She grunted and hefted him by his waist, having been quickly taught not to touch his chest at all.

"There. Up. Now grammar lesson with Minion." She turned on her heel and stomped off to the kitchen.

Megamind groaned, catching his crutch from nearby and heading for his working area to continue his tweaking of the devices he intended to use.

\---

When the madtom arrived back to the kitchen area she was pleased to find Minion already arranging the magnetic letters on the whiteboard he had procured for this purpose. She liked the letters, mostly because they were such vibrant colors she had not experienced before her change.

She sat down at the table and folded her slender robotic hands. Her suit was built altogether more lightweight than Minion's, which meant she had less strength but more dexterity. 

"Are you ready now?" Minion asked, his glowing bobs dimming slightly in what she knew to be a way of making her comfortable.

She bobbed in the tank, doing that thing he called 'nodding' to confirm. 

"What do you say?" the other fish prompted, going back to arranging the letters. Red, yellow, green, and other colors she had no words for yet.

"Yes. Color?" she pointed at a squiggly worm like letter.

"This is purple, this is also the letter 's'."

"Purple 's'. Okay. Next?" She flicked her fins, eager for more.

Minion graced her with a smile that made her feel very satisfied with herself. "How about we recite the alphabet? Do you remember what I told you yesterday?"

Madtom frowned, narrowing her eyes in concentration. "Red, yellow, green, blue...A, B, C, and..."

"Do you want me to help you?" Minion was always so patient. 

It was strange to appreciate, after all this time spent being a patient predator under a rock. She was used to only her own temperament though, having only really associated with other fish to either: a) eat them, or b) mate with them.

"Yes." She nodded again. "Colors first?"

"Colors after."

"Fine," she huffed. She loved the sound of that word, the way it drifted out in a long syllable. She drifted to the top of her bowl and took a breath.

"Still need to breathe air?" he queried, looking concerned.

It was still strange how anyone other than herself could possibly be concerned with her. 

"Yes."

"We'll need to ask Sir to fix that eventually..."

"No," she vehemently disagreed. She did not like Sir, he had made her this way, and while she liked being able to see in vivid color she did not appreciate the pain it had taken. It would be a long while before she could possibly feel any differently. "Do not want."

Minion sighed, and pointed at the magnetic letters. With a little help, she was able to get through them well enough to appease him. Then began the rest of the lesson; conversational English.

"So, how was counting the flakes today?" He put the whiteboard under the table to get it out of the way.

"Fine," she sighed. "Ten, ten, ten. Lots of ten."

"I see." He smiled gently, and it somehow didn't feel condescending. "Do you like it?"

"No, do not want...Lots. Do not want lots, but okay." She squirmed in her bowl, self conscious of her search for words.

"So, not really. You do not really like it," Minion clarified.

"Yes. That." She glanced at the refrigerator. "Learned when, tomorrow."

"Oh! Did Sir teach you that?" Minion grinned. The first time she had seen this she had hidden as far away from him as possible, but he had quickly explained it to be a friendly gesture, not an I-am-going-to-eat-you gesture. She still shivered at the sight of his teeth and he quickly trained his face back into a less toothy smile.

"Yes, Sir teach that. Learn tomorrow. But tomorrow, what?" She cocked her whole body to the side.

"Tomorrow is the next time the sun rises and it gets light outside. You should use more personal pronouns. I, me."

"Do not understand that. I, me...what?"

Minion's facial expression flickered to something she could recognize as negative. Her fins folded down of their own accord, making her look smaller in an effort to prevent threatening him into further displeasure.

He seemed to notice, and his bio-luminescence dimmed drastically. "Oh, it's not you! I'm just not sure how to explain some of these things to you verbally. I don't want you to depend too much on electrical information."

Electrical information was what he called water-feeling, which came so naturally to her and so clumsily to him. His water-feeling talk was less informative than he seemed to think it was. She had yet to really tell him about that, mostly because she found it charming in a way.

"Why? Eeelectreecaaal infooormaaa-tion good. Easy. Make more sense," she shrugged her robotic suit's shoulders, which seemed to make him a little happier to see.

"You depend on that too much when we're in the same water though. I want you to be able to communicate verbally so if I'm not around to help you, you can help yourself." They had argued this before, she remembered.

"Am fine." She lacked the words to express that, given time, she could figure it out on her own. This was just a shortcut, to feed the thirst she felt in the back of her head to fill it with more knowledge. "Fast?"

Minion sighed and gave in. "Alright, we'll go talk in the tank upstairs then."

"Then. Next time, right? Why then. Now better." She was genuinely confused.

"We are going now, it's just a way to say...It's hard to explain."

"Oh," she mumbled, looking back at the refrigerator. The picture of the wonderful creature who smelled just right stared back at her. 

Minion followed her line of sight to the picture, his glowing bits brightening slightly. "Do you like Ms. Ritchie?"

"Am liking, yes. Roxanne, Ms. Ritchie?"

"Her name is Roxanne Ritchie." Minion paused, his brow tilting. "Hm. How much do you like her?"

"Much, lots. Is good, smells right."

"That's what I was afraid of," Minion groaned.


	15. Time After Time

Bright and early, Roxanne woke up with a yawn. She stretched out and was surprised to find her arms did not extend off the sides of the couch. In fact, this didn't feel like the couch's upholstery at all. 

She sat up with a start and looked around, finding herself in the middle of what must have been a queen-sized bed. From the feel of them, the black sheets were silk. Quickly she lifted them and peeked at herself, sighing in relief. She was still wearing her shorts and nightgown.

She wanted to be upset they had moved her, but really couldn't bring herself to be. After all, she knew the game was supposed to start today, and it saved her the headache from the knockout gas. Plus the bedroom was surprisingly nice, despite the lack of windows and there only being a few things in the room. 

Aside from the bed and a nightstand with an envelope on it, there was an enormous monitor set up across the room, below it a camera with the lens cap still on it, and two doors. One - wooden and plain - was open. The other was made out of steel and probably locked. 

She sighed and reached over to the nightstand, taking up the envelope and recognizing the handwriting despite the lines not being as straight as she had seen on the hundreds of notes that were still in her apartment.

'ROXaNNE', declared the envelope. She almost smiled; it was a quirk she had noticed. He always printed in capitals, except for the letter 'a'. She opened it up and removed two sheets of paper: one blue and one plain white.

The white one had very simple instructions printed on it, asking her to indulge in a bath in the other room and letting her know there were clean clothes waiting in there as well. 

The blue paper was a simple portrait of her, smiling at something in the distance. Roxanne wasn't exactly sure how to take it, and turning it over yielded no further explanation. She placed both of the sheets of paper on the bedsheets and clambered off the bed, padding over to the bathroom.

The bathroom wasn't as large as Metroman's, but it was nice enough. There were no real decorative touches; just a porcelain sink, a toilet, a hamper with a post-it note on it, a small cabinet, and a claw-foot bathtub.

Figuring she might as well explore what little there was, she opened the cabinet. A shelf at the top had fluffy white towels, and several shampoos, conditioners, and soaps. At the bottom there was a little zipped bag, but that wasn't what really intrigued her. A dress, one she had never seen before, hung on a hook below the single shelf. 

She pulled it out to get a better look at it, only just noticing a note hanging from the hook. 

"Dear Ms. Ritchie,

I hope this is all your size, I had to estimate so I am not sure how it will fit. If you would like it taken in at a later time, just let me know. There are also several pair of underclothes in the bag, I wasn't sure on those either.

Sincerely,  
Minion."

Now Roxanne did smile. The fish always was very thoughtful. She held the dress up to admire it; deep, rich red silk, accented with black lace. It had a demure cut to it, not too short and not too long. She hung it back up and debated just putting it on without taking a bath, but decided she might as well cooperate just this once. It wasn't as if Megamind would ever dare install cameras in a bathroom so he could watch her undress - the very thought made her snort. 

She paused by the hamper to read the post-it notes, informing her that she could put her dirty clothes in there and they would be taken care of. With a shrug, she shed her clothes, dropped them inside, and was startled to see the bottom open up and take them away. That would bear further investigation later; for now, a bath was in order. She gathered the needed supplies out of the cabinet and laid them within reach.

And what a bath it was. She wasn't sure how long she lounged there in the tub, but by the end of it she was well acquainted with how good the jets felt on her back. When her fingers and toes had pruned sufficiently she dried off and gave the hamper another cursory glance. There was no way she was going to be able to climb in there to escape, but it made her feel better to have made sure of it. 

She crossed and fumbled with the bag for a moment, choosing the underclothes that were nearest to her size and pulling the tags off of them. The dress, when she put it on, fit like a dream. It hugged her curves in the right places, and was loose enough to be extremely comfortable. She made a mental note to let Minion know he was dead on with his guessing, almost scarily accurate.

With a sigh she realized that they had forgotten shoes and a comb though. She walked back into the bedroom, running a hand through her damp hair and flicking water droplets from her fingers. She puzzled over the monitor for a moment before taking the lens cap off the camera.

The monitor flickered to life and she was greeted with the back of Megamind's head filling most of the screen.

"-need to stop staring like that. It's entirely unnerving," he was saying to someone out of view.

"Face is unnerving," croaked a voice she hadn't heard before. It sounded like a woman with a long history of chain smoking. She narrowed her eyes, wondering if he had given one of his brainbots a voice.

"...Where did she...Minion, have you been teaching her how to be a smart alec?" Megamind waved a hand, exasperated.

"Well, if someone hadn't given her access to the internet and told her to watch YouTube all last night..." Roxanne could just hear Minion crossing his arms and frowning.

"It kept her out of trouble, didn't it?" Megamind leaned back a little, his head tilting and his shoulders hunching so he could sulk.

"Granted, but-" Minion was interrupted by a gleeful croak from the unfamiliar voice.

"Roxanne! Roxanne, Roxanne, Rrroxaaaaanne!" 

"What?!" Megamind flailed for a moment, becoming a blur. The screen abruptly went dark, but she could still hear mumbled directions over the microphone. 

Roxanne hid the smallest of smiles behind a hand. Just like old times. She quickly composed herself and sat back on the bed, smoothing her dress over her lap and waiting patiently.

"Ahem," came the forewarning of his voice. The black was swept away to reveal Megamind seated a short distance from the camera. "Ms. Ritchie, it seems you have fallen into my clutches yet again."

Roxanne felt herself relax a little. Banter was something she was good at. "I wouldn't say I fell anywhere."

"Ah, but did you not wake in a strange place, in a strange bed, with strange...ness...all around you?" He gestured dramatically, his smile curling up at the ends and his brow narrowing slyly.

"You're out of practice," she smirked.

"Well, can you blame me?" He dropped the sinister twisted smile and became surprisingly frank. "I'm trying to kick the habit here, as it were." His hands came up to motion at himself, in all his villainous best. "I've also been on painkillers for the past twenty-three days. Cut me some slack."

"Alright, alright." She held her hands up complacently. "Where were we?"

"I have you in my clutches, you should be quivering in terror, et cet-ar-a," he sighed, waving a hand lightly as if grasping for his next sentence. "It's your turn anyway."

"Nice to see evil still obeys the rules on the playground," she smirked, shifting so her arms supported her weight on either side of her.

"Hey, evil always had class," he snorted, resting a hand on his chest in a dramatic display of offense. She noticed he didn't move the fingers of his right hand at all despite the apparent lack of a cast under his leather glove; they stayed in the same stiff pose. "Class dictates there are certain rules of etiquette that must be followed."

She felt a twinge of irritation in her chest and the words tumbled out before she could stop them. "Classy like using someone else's face to seduce women?"

His face fell in record time. He looked devastated, his green eyes projecting all his regret and sorrow. "No, that wasn't classy...That was crass, and rude, and...evil. Not the good kind of evil, the bad kind of evil."

She wasn't sure what she was feeling right now. It was somewhere drifting in the range between anger, sadness, and even sympathy. "Mm," she grunted, frowning at him.

"I don't know what to say now," he said, his shoulders slumping as he leaned back in his chair, seemingly stunned by his own admission.

"How about we start with 'sorry'?" she suggested, softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, God, a thousand times I'm sorry!" he shouted, raising his hands up. "It's just so...So...Inadequate a word! I don't know how to explain how much I regret doing that to you."

Roxanne smiled faintly. "It'll do; apology accepted."

He let out a breath of relief, smoothly covering the grimace as it agitated his still-broken ribs. "Oh good."

They sat there in silence for a few moments.

"So what now? Aren't you supposed to tell me your whole plan and threaten me to Wa-Metroman?" She crossed her legs at the ankles, pretending not to notice how his eyes followed the motion and his Adam's apple bobbed while he swallowed. She also pretended not to notice how his eyes darkened at the mention of Wayne.

"I could never threaten your safety, not now," he said it softly and sincerely. Roxanne felt the ice around her heart melt a little. Then he coughed into a hand. "I don't monologue that much! Do I?" 

She smirked. "Oh, you're terrible. Remember when you'd get so distracted talking about what you were going to do that you got foiled? Happened at least a hundred times."

"One hundred and sixty-five, if you don't count the times when I was only half distracted," he mumbled sheepishly. "But that doesn't matter, because I do not intend to tell you a thing about what I mean to do with your boyfriend!"

"That's new. And he's not my boyfriend."

"Really?" It came out as a near inaudible squeak. He cleared his throat. "I mean, how do you stay, unescorted, at a man's house and not...?" He flushed, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the thought of what probably followed being unchaperoned in a man's home.

"None of your business, that's how," she snapped. He was getting far too personal.

"Sorry!" he stammered, his hands flailing at the camera. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry!"

"Can we get back to business?" she glowered.

"Uh...Sure...Right..." He winced at her tone. "I...Mean to prove to you, Ms. Ritchie, that your protector is not the best protector you can have. If you will join me, I will show you." He looked away, his expression apprehensive and concerned.

With that the screen went black and the steel door swung open to admit the strangest robot she had seen out of Megamind yet. It was slightly shorter than her, with a body was a hodgepodge of copper and gunmetal, as if it had been put together in a hurry. The three-toed feet left light depressions in the carpet as it padded towards her. Its curved head reminded her of a science fiction horror movie she had seen years ago, and did not move with the rest of the body. It was kept completely level, leaving only a slight sloshing of the water inside.

In that water was Minion's friend. She smiled, the tentacles around her mouth curling with the gesture. Her gray-black eyes stared at her unblinkingly. "Roxaaaane," she croaked cheerfully. That solved the mystery of who had been talking to Megamind. "Come with, am taking you to chair now."

She held out a three-fingered hand expectantly. Roxanne gulped back her apprehension and took it, allowing the creature to lead her through to the next room.


	16. Psalms of Destruction

When Roxanne entered the next room she was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no knock-out gas waiting for her, no ropes, and not even a Gatling gun-sans-chain hanging from the ceiling. She glanced around at the relatively spartan room. There was the usual control panel, the screens scavenged from what looked like old Commodore 64s, and of course Megamind in his chair.

Megamind swallowed, watching her in silence, his mouth partly open as if he’d had something to say and it just wouldn’t come out. She couldn’t help but notice that he was flushed a darker blue, making his eyes stand out all the more.

She waited patiently, shuffling her bare feet on the cool concrete floor.

Minion’s friend broke the silence. “Chair,” she croaked, cocking her body inside the curved head.

“Right, yes,” Megamind muttered under his breath. “Minion, if you would?” His eyes never left her face.

Minion obliged, slipping behind her and pulling a chair away from the wall. No ropes, no shackles, and not the usual uncomfortable steel chair. This was a regular chair, with cushioned seats. “Ms Ritchie, please have a seat?” The fish asked politely.

Roxanne took a deep breath and did as asked, waiting for something to pin her into the chair, or pop out of the wall to threaten her.

A beat passed.

Nothing came out at her. She glanced around again and looked back at Megamind, raising an eyebrow.

Megamind seemed so sad, sitting there with his hands folded in his lap. One of his legs was flung out straight, the other bent to rest under the chair. “Minion...Fish...A moment?”

Minion nodded, reaching out and catching his friend by the arm, hauling her into the other room. The littler fish kept looking back at her as Roxanne watched them go.

“Roxanne?” He queried, softly.

She turned back to him, a little unnerved now there was no screen between them and no one else in the room to distract. “Yeah?”

He was quiet for a moment, just staring at her before his gaze dropped to his hands. “I don’t know what to say now. There’s so much I want to say, and I’m not sure how to.”

Roxanne sighed, looking at an interesting speck of dust in the corner. “I’m really not ready to talk about this, there’s been a lot going on with my life, and I just...can’t add that one more thing to it.”

“I need this. It’s been almost a month, I have to know,” he sounded so...desperate.

She looked up at him, and his eyes were full of tears. She felt a burst of anger and then it was overpowered with misery for the whole situation. And he was begging.

How was someone with such green eyes able to melt her heart like this? It was like watching a puppy begging to get in out of the rain. Her heart was a lump in her throat.

“Roxanne, please...”

“Alright. Alright, okay. You want to talk? Let’s talk.” She was trying not to be angry, she really was. It was so hard though; here he was wallowing in self pity because she wasn’t ready for him, while she had to deal with forced vacation and not even being able to enter her own apartment. All because of him.

He bit his lip, cringing a little at her tone. “Once again...I’m sorry. For everything. Not just lying to you, but kidnapping you, taking over the city, everything...Sorry just seems inadequate.”

Roxanne waited for more, but he had stopped and was watching her like he wanted her to say something. She grimaced at him. “Go on.”

“I just need to know. Do you hate me? Is that why you’re avoiding me?” His eyes looked damp.

Roxanne sighed, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “I don’t hate you, but now is just...Things are bad for me right now. I have a lot to sort out.”

He heaved out a shaking breath of relief. “Oh, I get it. I have a lot to do also.”

Roxanne narrowed her eyes at him, irritated. “A lot? Really? How sorry are you if you don’t even cry about it?”

“I can’t!” He sounded so devastated at the fact. “Oh God, I wish I could but, it’s hard to explain. Easier to show you, watch.”

He stood and walked towards her, leaning in so suddenly it actually made her wince. He backed up a little, hands up.

“I’m not going to hurt you, just...Here, watch.” He pointed at his eyes. A clear third eyelid slid sideways across them, then back again to where it had been hidden. “Nictitating membrane. Usually it just keeps things out of my eyes, very handy in a fight, but...It prevents me from crying unless I have an eye infection.”

Roxanne blinked, taken aback. “Oh.”

He backed away, rubbing his eye with the back of a hand, very carefully avoiding bumping the wrist with the watch on it. “Where were we?”

“I...You know, I just can’t do this whole banter thing right now,” Roxanne sighed.

He paused, watching her sadly, his shoulder slumped. “I don’t think I can either...”

“So...Should we just get on with it then?” she asked.

“Yes...Of course,” he swallowed, turning to the side though he was still watching her. “I know you’ve....made your choice. I understand, really, I mean, who could pass that up?” He held up a hand as she opened her mouth. Now that he was on a roll, he didn’t want to stop until he had it all out.

Roxanne stared at him in confusion, but he tore his gaze from her and walked away, leaning on his control panel. “I just want to make sure that he’s going to be right for you. You deserve nothing less than perfection, and I mean to ensure it.”

He picked up a headset and put it on, flicking a switch on the side. “Ahem. Attention Metroman! I have captured your beloved Roxanne Ritchie, find us if you dare!”

And so the game was afoot.

Roxanne sucked in her breath, watching Wayne approach on screen. She braced herself preparing for the inevitable crash through the ceiling only to...not have it happen. The camera shifted to another room. Wayne crashed through the ceiling on the camera and hovered above a wooden platform, looking down at someone off camera.

“Megamind!” Wayne shouted, dramatically, pointing.

Megamind didn’t say a word, his jaw tightened briefly and he flicked a switch. Some kind of powder was blown across the screen.

On screen Wayne gasped and reached up, rubbing his eyes. He landed on the platform, which promptly gave way under his weight. The camera view shifted, showing him floundering in a huge tank of water. Which abruptly froze solid. There was a horrible cracking noise as a layer of glass was shot through with spiderwebs.

Roxanne stared. Never before had Wayne ever even been stalled by Megamind.

Megamind flicked another switch, releasing something liquid on top of the water. In a few moments it was steaming, then boiling. Wayne writhed in the water, trying to swim to the surface, only to be blocked by the steel sheets being welded on top by brainbots. He clenched a fist and punched the glass, cracking it, but not shattering it. He looked at his hands in confusion.

The water froze solid again, and the spider webbed glass gave way. Roxanne gasped, a hand shooting to her lips. Something else was spread atop the solid block, and it was heated once more. The water sloshed against another layer of glass, the shattered remains of the previous layer floating in the water with Wayne. All in the space of two minutes.

Wayne, who was actually having trouble getting out this time. Wayne, who had never once looked this panicked before.

“Oh my God...” Roxanne breathed, just as the water froze again. The next layer of glass cracked and shattered. She looked at Megamind’s back, noticing his posture had changed from hard and stiff to...slouched. He leaned into the monitor, not looking at Wayne, but looking at a read out on the left.

“Oh no...”

She barely heard him say it, but with those words uttered she knew something was not going according to plan. “Megamind...?”

On screen the water boiled again. Wayne sank down to the bottom of the tank, pale and shaking violently.

“Minion!” Megamind turned, yelling. “Minion, initiate the shut down on the nanobots! Right now! Set them to isolate and remove the previous dendrotoxin introduced!”

He turned away, moving surprisingly quick for how stiffly he was walking, and opened a door she had previously not even been able to see behind the control panel. “Brainbots, get that glass off!”

Roxanne was frozen in place as Minion swept past her to the control panel. Megamind was screaming at the brainbots to work faster before seizing a fire axe off the wall and throwing it, diving back behind the door frame as it hit the glass and dinged it just enough to create a weak point. It shattered in an explosion of heat and flying glass. Water swept into the room and Roxanne raised her feet onto the chair just quickly enough to avoid being scalded.

The cameras went dark. The lights flickered, but quickly recovered. Minion was making angry noises at the water as it seeped closer to the control panels, his metallic fingers working so quickly they left careless dents in the keys. Roxanne couldn’t fully comprehend what Minion was saying as he griped. The other robotic suit hovered near her, the smaller fish bobbing within with an expression approaching fear and concern. The cool metal hand touched Roxanne’s skin, but it only registered on the periphery.

Megamind stumbled out into the other room, not even paying attention to the still bubbling water as it rapidly cooled with a hissing of steam. He was in the other room for barely seconds before he shrieked for Minion’s friend to come help him with chest compressions. The cool hand left Roxanne’s arm and the fish left the room, head still stationary as the suit hurried forward with surprising quickness.

The whole time Roxanne sat in her chair, shaking with tears flowing unknowingly down her cheeks. She leaned over the edge, trying to see around the corner without putting her feet on the hot floor. Minion was still talking somewhere in the distance.

Megamind lay on his belly, breathing into Wayne’s mouth, shouting directions at the catfish in the weird suit in between rescue breaths.

Roxanne sat back on her knees, curling her arms around herself so tightly her knuckles turned white. Minion’s hands came to rest on her shoulders, his face coming between her and the scene.

“Ms. Ritchie,” he said a fourth time, cupping her soft, human face in his cold, robotic hand. “Ms. Ritchie, are you hurt?”

Roxanne shook her head, her eyes focusing on him finally. “N-no...” she said, shakily.

“He didn’t mean for this to happen. You know that, right?” Minion kept his hand on her face, her tears leaking into the seams of his palm. It would rust later, but now he was hardly concerned with it. “No one thinks they can hurt a god.”

“No. No, he didn’t mean it, but...oh God...” She buried her face in Minion’s shoulder.

“Shhh, it’ll be okay. Sir will set it all right,” Minion said softly. “The nanobots are already purging the poison.”

Roxanne did the only thing she could do.

She prayed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'm so, so sorry.
> 
> That is where I stopped writing. This was written back in 2011, and I started to write the third part, entitled Violet Hill, but it never got past the first few paragraphs. Maybe someday I'll go back, or some enterprising someone will opt to take it up, but as it stands...this is all there is.


End file.
